Intensive care unit survivors, growing in number as clinicians and medical technology save more lives, are psychologically as well as medically fragile. The first study to examine antidepressant use and depressive symptoms after an ICU stay has found that even if prescribed antidepressants, a significant percentage—about a third—had symptoms of depression at the time of their initial visit to a clinic specially designed for ICU survivors. Young ICU survivors and African American ICU survivors were at the highest risk for depression.
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