Chan KS, et al. - In this prospective cohort study including acute respiratory distress syndrome survivors (n=120) from five study centers, researchers assessed the body composition of survivors in the year after acute respiratory distress syndrome. They also investigated the correlations between patient characteristics, hospital exposures, and survivors’ strength and physical functioning with whole body percent lean mass. They observed gains in fat mass and maintained lean mass in patients during the first year after acute respiratory distress syndrome. Whole body percent lean mass showed no relation to commonly theorized hospital risk factors. In ICU survivors, functional recovery may be understood via direct measurement of body composition and performance-based functional measures.