Effect of tidal volume reduction on long-term outcomes
PTSS, tidal volume reduction, Post-traumatic stress symptoms, cognitive dysfunction
Overall, 45 patients allocated to intervention, who completed at least one questionnaire, had a reduction in tidal volume of at least 2 mL/kg PBW between baseline and day 3. These patients were compared with 68 patients allocated to standard care who did not have at least a 2 mL/kg PBW reduction in tidal volume over the same time. As expected, at day 3, the tidal volume was lower in the intervention subgroup than the standard care subgroup (3.6 (0.7) vs 6.9 (2.0) mL/kg PBW; p<0.001).In patients who had a reduction in tidal volume, there was no significant effect on respiratory function, cognitive dysfunction or health-related quality of life at 12 months. Although patients allocated to intervention who had a meaningful tidal volume reduction had a numerically lower PTSS-14 Score than those standard care patients with no change in tidal volume, the difference in PTSS-14 Score did not reach statistical significance (p=0.06) (Exploratory analysis evaluating the effect of tidal volume reductionData presented as mean (SD) and analysed using independent samples t-test.EQ-5D-5L, EuroQol Five Dimension 5 Level; MoCA, Montreal Cognitive Assessment; PBW, Predicted Body Weight; PTSS, Post-traumatic stress symptoms; SGRQ, St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire; VAS, visual analogue scale.