Physical, social, mental and spiritual functioning of COVID-19 intensive care unit-survivors and their family members one year after intensive care unit-discharge: A prospective cohort study.

It was done in one Dutch ICU during the first COVID-19 wave, so the results may not fit settings with different ICU lengths of stay, discharge routes or follow-up services. Only 56 of 73 eligible survivors and 67 of 102 invited family members answered at 12 months, so people who were too ill, too busy or not well enough to respond may be missing. Most outcomes were self-reported questionnaires, without a control group, so they describe what participants reported rather than proving how much ICU treatment caused each problem. The interview sample was very small: six survivors and six family members. The themes are useful descriptions, not a pattern that can be generalised to all ICU survivors or families. Voice, swallowing and cognitive-communication outcomes came from a broad symptom list, not from detailed speech, swallowing or cognitive assessments. No intervention was tested, so nothing in this paper shows that physiotherapy, occupational therapy, nursing follow-up, chaplaincy or any other service improves these outcomes.

The authors declared no known competing financial interests or personal relationships. No sponsor role is described in the supplied text.

Do not conclude that COVID-19 ICU survivors are largely recovered because 82% were not frail and anxiety and depression scores were 2.0 on 0-21 scales. 93% still reported at least one physical symptom, and the study did not test any treatment.