Department of Anesthesiology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York2Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York.
The relationship between critical illness and psychiatric illness is unclear.
To assess psychiatric diagnoses and medication prescriptions before and after critical illness.
Population-based cohort study in Denmark of critically ill patients in 2006-2008 with follow-up through 2009, and 2 matched comparison cohorts from hospitalized patients and from the general population.
Critical illness defined as intensive care unit admission with mechanical ventilation.
Adjusted prevalence ratios (PRs) of psychiatrist-diagnosed psychiatric illnesses and prescriptions for psychoactive medications in the 5 years before critical illness. For patients with no psychiatric history, quarterly cumulative incidence (risk) and adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for diagnoses and medications in the following year, using Cox regression.
Among 24,179 critically ill patients, 6.2% had 1 or more psychiatric diagnoses in the prior 5 years vs 5.4% for hospitalized patients (adjusted PR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.22-1.42; P