About 70 percent of all patients who have been treated in ICU go on to suffer long-term physical, mental or cognitive complications stemming from their visit. This comes according to the first round results of a large study expected to span over several years.

The initial findings involve 2,000 patients from seven hospitals across the Netherlands, according to broadcaster NOS. A further 4,000 people have already been included in the study, with the total sample size expected to reach 12,000 people before the final results are eventually released.

According to the results so far, seven out of 10 ICU patients experience "moderate to severe negative consequences" for as much as a year after they had first been admitted to intensive care, in a phenomenon the researchers coined 'Post Intensive Care Syndrome', or PICS. Patients reported feelings of "fear and gloom", trouble with their memory and concentration, as well as the processing of stimuli (i.e. how they respond when many things occur at once).

While the results are not only limited to patients in ICU due to Covid-19, the results are nonetheless particularly pertinent in light of the pandemic. There were 1,384 Covid-19 patients from the Netherlands requiring ICU care as of Friday evening.

The study is expected to have a duration of five years, and involves samples from ICU patients from the Radboudumc and the CWZ hospitals in Nijmegen, the Rijnstate in Arnhem, the Jeroen Bosch in Den Bosch, the Amphia in Breda, the Bernhoven in Uden and the Maasziekenhuis Pantein in Boxmeer.