Andrews P, Thompson J, Taylor W, et al. - As critical care survivors are at raised risk for long-term physical, psychological, and cognitive impairments, researchers sought to ascertain how their ICU course and post-ICU outcomes may be affected by preexisting psychiatric illnesses such as depression. In intensive care unit (ICU) survivors, depression is reported to be the most frequent psychological sequelae along with changes in cognitive performance. Researchers here examined their hypothesis that there would be a link between a premorbid history of depression and a more complicated ICU course, quantified as days of delirium. In addition, they tested if premorbid depression would be linked with higher levels of cognitive impairment and greater depression severity in the year following ICU stay. The Brain ICU longitudinal cohort study was performed including 821 patients who were admitted to the medical/surgical ICU services; the median age of the patients was 61 years. A history of depression was identified in 261 of these patients (33%) prior to their critical illness. A pre-admission history of depression, was not associated with days of delirium or coma in the ICU, after adjusting for demographic and other relevant covariates. Higher Beck Depression Inventory scores at 3 months and 12 months were more likely in patients with a prior history of depression.