NCT07048951

Episodes of (Dis)Connected Consciousness in ICU Survivors

Episodes of (Dis)Connected Consciousness Among Patients Who Survived a Critical Illness

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 200 (estimated)
• Sponsor: University of Liege · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This single-center observational study aims to describe the incidence of episodes of connected consciousness and disconnected consciousness (including near-death experience (NDE) and out-of-body experiences) in patients who survived a prolonged stay of at least 7 days in the intensive care unit (ICU) and who had at least one episode of pharmacological or non-pharmacological coma. The investigators are also investigating the risk factors related to these episodes of consciousness. A follow-up at six months aims to explore the long-term psychological implications of these episodes.

Conditions

• Consciousness
• Near Death Experience
• ICU
• Critical Illness

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DIAGNOSTIC_TEST	The Near-Death Experience Content (NDE-C) scale	Questionnaire to detect occurence of NDE. A NDE is identified if score \> or = 27/80
OTHER	Threat perception measure	7 items scale investigating the participant's psychological vulnerability during their stay at the ICU
OTHER	Interview about the participant's memories of the ICU	Participants will be asked to describe any dream, hallucination, or any other unusual experience they can recall from their stay at the ICU. Additionally, the participants will be asked to describe any memory they have of the environment of the ICU, such as the appearance of the room, medical staff, family visiting, noises, etc.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-04-01
• Primary completion: 2027-01-01
• Completion: 2027-04-01
• First posted: 2025-07-03
• Last updated: 2025-07-03

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Belgium