Near-death Experience in ICU Survivors

Incidence of Near-death Experiences Among Patients Who Survived a Critical Illness

Status

Completed

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Observational

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT04279171

Enrollment

126

Registered

2020-02-21

Start date

2019-06-01

Completion date

2021-06-30

Last updated

2022-04-05

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Critical Illness, Near-Death Experience

Brief summary

This observational study aims to describe the incidence of near-death experience (NDE) in patients who survived a critical illness. In order to help determine the potential risk factors of NDE, dissociative status and spirituality are also investigated. Finally, in patients who experienced NDE, a magnetic resonance imaging is performed to search for any structural modifications.

Interventions

DIAGNOSTIC_TESTGreyson NDE scale

Questionnaire to detect occurence of NDE. A NDE is identified if score \> or = 7/32

DIAGNOSTIC_TESTDES dissociation scale

Screening for dissociative symptoms

DIAGNOSTIC_TESTWHOQOL-SRPB

WHOQOL-SRPB is an instrument developed to evaluate how spirituality, religiosity and personal beliefs (SRPB) are related to quality of life in health and health care.

DIAGNOSTIC_TESTcerebral magnetic resonance imaging

Types of images to be acquired: T1, T2, Diffusion Weighted Imaging-DWI, Fluid Attenuated Inversion Recovery and spectroscopy

Study design

Observational model

COHORT

Time perspective

PROSPECTIVE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

* All consecutive patients who survived critical illness

Exclusion criteria

* Glasgow Coma Scale \< 15/15 * Confusion (CAM ICU scale) * Refusal

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
NDE	Greyson questionnaire is administered during the week following ICU discharge	NDE occurence during ICU stay, retrospectively detected by the Greyson scale. Greyson scale is a 16 items and 32 points scale. Minimal score is 0, maximal score is 32. A NDE is suspected when score is equal or higher than 7.

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
NDE	one year after first interview	NDE occurence during ICU stay, retrospectively detected by the Greyson scale.
MCQ (Memory Characteristics Questionnaire)	one month after first interview	analyze of the phenomenological characteristics of real and imagined memories
Quality of life estimation	one year after first interview	Quality of life assessment, using EQ-5D-3L

Countries

Belgium

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 12, 2026