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Mental Health Outcomes After Neurocritical Care: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Jamie Nicole LaBuzetta1, Henry G Chen2, Nicholas Ibrahim3
1Department of Neurosciences, Division of Neurocritical Care, UC San Diego Health, University of California - San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA. jlabuzetta@health.ucsd.edu.
Neurocritical Care
|July 6, 2026
Summary
Survivors of neurocritical illness face a significant mental health burden, with high rates of depression and anxiety. These mental health outcomes in neurocritical care survivors are more prevalent than in the general population.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Critical Care Medicine
- Psychiatry
Background:
- Neurocritical care aims to manage acute neurological conditions.
- Survivors of neurocritical illness often experience long-term sequelae.
- Mental health outcomes are a critical, yet understudied, aspect of neurocritical care recovery.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically review and meta-analyze mental health outcomes in adult survivors of neurocritical illness.
- To estimate the pooled prevalence of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress (PTS) in this population.
- To identify common assessment tools and evaluation timing for mental health outcomes.
Main Methods:
- A comprehensive literature search was conducted across PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and PsycInfo from January 1970 to June 2024.
- Studies included adult patients with primary neurological diagnoses admitted to intensive care.
- Random effects meta-analyses were performed to pool prevalence and symptom severity data for depression, anxiety, and PTS.
Main Results:
- Twenty-four publications reported on mental health outcomes, with depression (19 studies), anxiety (11 studies), and PTS (7 studies) being most frequent.
- Pooled prevalence estimates included 24% for depression and 37% for anxiety.
- Median assessment times ranged from 3 to 4.5 months post-discharge, with significant heterogeneity in tools used.
Conclusions:
- Neurocritical illness survivors experience a substantial burden of mental health symptoms, exceeding general population rates.
- Heterogeneity in assessment tools and evaluation timing limits precise prevalence estimation.
- Further research is needed to standardize mental health outcome assessments in neurocritical care survivors.
