Purpose
Patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) experience a variety of symptoms. This descriptive correlational study aimed to determine the prevalence of symptoms and the physiological and situational factors associated with these symptoms in ICU patients.
Methods
We analyzed the Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) of 1,214 cases admitted to and discharged from the ICUs of a university hospital in Seoul over a 1-year period from June to September 2022. This analysis utilized standardized instruments embedded in EMRs and a natural language analysis framework developed by the researchers. Descriptive statistics, the x 2 test, the Fisher exact test, and multivariate logistic regression were employed to identify common symptoms and their related factors.
Results
In total, 85.7% of the cases had at least one symptom during their ICU stay, and 36.6% experienced 2 symptoms. Pain was the most frequently experienced symptom, affecting 69.5% of cases, followed by agitation (29.7%), dyspnea (29.7%), and delirium (4.8%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that the length of ICU stay influenced pain (odds ratio [OR]=1.04; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02~1.06; p<.001), delirium (OR=1.08; 95% CI, 1.06~1.11; p<.001), agitation (OR=1.07; 95% CI, 1.05~1.10; p<.001), and dyspnea (OR=1.19; 95% CI, 1.13~1.26; p<.001).
Conclusion
Pain, agitation, and dyspnea are common in ICU patients and are associated with the length of their ICU stay. Our study identifies factors related to these symptoms that could be targeted to manage and reduce their occurrence, providing a foundation for future research on various symptom assessment tools and natural language transcripts.