One-Year Outcomes in Survivors of the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

As more patients survive the acute respiratory distress syndrome, an understanding of the long-term outcomes of this condition is needed.

We evaluated 109 survivors of the acute respiratory distress syndrome 3, 6, and 12 months after discharge from the intensive care unit. At each visit, patients were interviewed and underwent a physical examination, pulmonary-function testing, a six-minute-walk test, and a quality-of-life evaluation.