Instruments

As part of this project, we are creating a database of recommended survey instruments and clinical testing methods for evaluating the long-term physical, cognitive, and mental health outcomes of survivors of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)/acute respiratory failure (ARF) (see AJRCCM. 2014; 189:875-7). This project is registered with the COMET Initiative, a network promoting the creation of standard sets of core outcome measures for clinical trials (COMET Initiative Page for this project).

Alison Turnbull, DVM, MPH, PhD discusses (click image for the video) the heterogeneity in outcome measures in our field and the need for a Core Outcome Measurement Set (COMS) to standardize reporting of important outcomes (see COMS at www.improvelto.com/coms).

As part of the consensus process, we have compiled information on survey instruments and clinical testing methods used in previous studies of ARDS/ARF survivors and suggestions by participants in our consensus project (i.e., clinical researchers, clinicians, patients, caregivers and funding body representatives). This list is not comprehensive, but is provided as exemplar, and may be helpful to investigators considering post-discharge outcome measures for clinical studies. Some of these instruments have been used as part of the ARDSNet Long-Term Outcomes Study (“ALTOS” – see BMJ. 2013; 346:f1532AJRCCM. 2013; 188:567-576AJRCCM. 2014; 189:1214-24; Clinical Trials Registration: NCT00719446) Moreover, a recent paper by  provides suggestions for post-discharge outcomes assessments based on expert opinion. (see Clin Nutr. 2015 Jul 16. pii: S0261-5614(15)00177-6.)

A part of this project involved a systematic review of the performance characteristics of instruments evaluating physical, cognitive, and mental health outcomes in ICU survivors. Click here for detailed information about these instruments from this review

Please see the list of instruments below:

Cognitive 

Mental Health 

Muscle and/or Nerve Function 

Pain 

Physical Function 

Pulmonary Function 

Quality of Life

Return to Work 

Outcome Measures from ATS Pulm. Rehab. Assembly Outcomes Working Group

Helpful links 

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Creative Commons License This work, created by Dale M. Needham, MD, PhD and the Johns Hopkins University Outcomes After Critical Illness & Surgery (OACIS) Group, was funded by NHLBI R24HL111895, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License