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Studying outcomes of intensive care unit survivors: the role of the cohort study

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An Erratum to this article was published on 21 July 2005

Abstract

Background

As research focuses on long-term patient outcomes and the “real world” effectiveness of intensive care unit (ICU) therapies, the cohort study is increasingly being used in critical care research.

Methods

Using examples of prior cohort studies in intensive care, we review the key elements of this research design and evaluate its advantages and limitations for critical care research. Furthermore, through a systematic search of the literature we summarize data from 70 prior published cohort studies of medium- and long-term outcomes in adult critical care medicine.

Discussion

This research demonstrates that the prospective cohort study is a powerful research design that has not been fully leveraged to assess relationships between exposures and long-term outcomes of ICU survivors.

Conclusions

We make recommendations for the design of future cohort studies to maximize the impact of this research in improving the long-term outcomes of critically ill patients.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge Dr. Kimberly Forde for her assistance with analysis in this manuscript and the important contributions made by four anonymous peer reviewers.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    David W. Dowdy

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    David W. Dowdy

  3. Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Dale M. Needham

  4. Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., Canada

    Dale M. Needham & Margaret S. Herridge

  5. Department of Anesthesiology/Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Pedro A. Mendez-Tellez & Peter J. Pronovost

  6. Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Pedro A. Mendez-Tellez & Peter J. Pronovost

  7. Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., Canada

    Margaret S. Herridge

  8. Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Peter J. Pronovost

Authors
  1. David W. Dowdy
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  2. Dale M. Needham
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  5. Peter J. Pronovost
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dale M. Needham.

Additional information

An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00134-005-2757-3

This research was supported by National Institutes of Health (ALI SCCOR Grant # P050 HL 73994-01). D.M.N. is supported by Clinician-Scientist Awards from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the University of Toronto, and a Detweiler Fellowship from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

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Dowdy, D.W., Needham, D.M., Mendez-Tellez, P.A. et al. Studying outcomes of intensive care unit survivors: the role of the cohort study. Intensive Care Med 31, 914–921 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-005-2657-6

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