Nearly two-thirds of family members restricted from visiting COVID-19 patients admitted to intensive care units suffered from stress-related disorders three months after the hospitalization, a study published April 25 in JAMA Internal Medicine found.
Researchers surveyed 330 family members three months after their relatives were admitted to the ICU with COVID-19. Patients were admitted between Feb. 1 and July 31, 2020, at 12 facilities in five states.
Higher post-traumatic stress disorder symptom scores were associated with female gender, Hispanic ethnicity and previous psychiatric condition medication use. Those reporting higher scores more commonly described distrust and concern about taking clinicians’ information at face value without being present. Researchers said 30 percent of family members of ICU patients reported stress-related disorders before the pandemic.
Noted limitations of the study include the risk of recall bias given the timeline of the survey and lack of ability to assume a causal relationship given the observational nature of the study.