Disease Severity, Mortality Risk, and Muscle Function in Intensive Care Unit Patients

Intensive Care Units are specialized, technologically advanced hospital units that provide continuous monitoring and care from multiple healthcare disciplines for patients who are critically ill and face a high risk of death or serious health problems. Prolonged periods of immobility, which are common during treatment in these units, can cause serious complications such as muscle weakness, decline in physical function, and a lower quality of life. There are scoring systems designed to predict the severity of a patient's illness and their likely outcomes, such as the scoring system called the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation version two. However, these scoring systems are not yet widely used as a regular part of patient care. Although weakness and wasting of muscles away from the center of the body are known to affect the recovery process of patients who survive intensive care treatment, the connection between how severe the illness is and the strength of the muscles used for breathing, the structure of peripheral muscles, and their biomechanical characteristics is still not fully understood. This study aims to explore these relationships to help improve physiotherapy and rehabilitation treatments for patients in intensive care.