• Jennifer Menna Barreto de Souza, Aline Paula Miozzo, da Rosa Minho Dos SantosRosaR0000-0001-7845-3147Hospital Moinhos de Vento, Porto Alegre/RS, Ramiro Barcelos, 630, Room: 1007, Moinhos de Vento, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil., Duane Mocellin, Gabriela Soares Rech, Geraldine Trott, Gabriel Pozza Müller Estivalete, Daniel Sganzerla, Denise de Souza, Regis Goulart Rosa, and Cassiano Teixeira.
• Hospital Moinhos de Vento, Porto Alegre/RS, Ramiro Barcelos, 630, Room: 1007, Moinhos de Vento, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. jennifermennabarreto@gmail.com.
• Intensive Care Med. 2024 Oct 1; 50 (10): 161416211614-1621.

PurposeThe aim of this study was to assess the effects of flexible intensive care unit (ICU) visitation on the 1-year prevalence of post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression symptoms among family members of critically ill patients.MethodsThis is a long-term outcome analysis of a cluster-crossover randomized clinical trial that evaluated a flexible visitation model in the ICU (12 h/day) compared to a restrictive visitation model (median 1.5 h/day) in 36 Brazilian ICUs. In this analysis, family members were assessed 12 months after patient discharge from the ICU for the following outcomes: post-traumatic stress symptoms measured by the Impact Event Scale-6 and anxiety and depression symptoms measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.ResultsA total of 519 family members were analyzed (288 in the flexible visitation group and 231 in the restrictive visitation group). Three-hundred sixty-nine (71.1%) were women, and the mean age was 46.6 years. Compared to family members in the restrictive visitation group, family members in the flexible visitation group had a significantly lower prevalence of post-traumatic stress symptoms (21% vs. 30.5%; adjusted prevalence ratio [aPR], 0.91; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.85-0.98; p = 0.01). The prevalence of anxiety (28.9% vs. 33.2%; aPR 0.93; 95% CI 0.72-1.21; p = 0.59) and depression symptoms (19.2% vs. 25%; aPR, 0.78; 95% CI 0.60-1.02; p = 0.07) did not differ significantly between the groups.ConclusionFlexible ICU visitation, compared to the restrictive visitation, was associated with a significant reduction in the 1-year prevalence of post-traumatic stress symptoms in family members.© 2024. Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

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