MINI REVIEW article
Front. Pediatr.
Sec. Pediatric Critical Care
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1558302
Posttraumatic stress disorder neurophysiology and clinical correlates in pediatric critical care: conceptualizing a PICU-PTSD framework
Provisionally accepted
- University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common in child and parent survivors of critical illness, with significant negative impact on life after survival. Understanding the neuroscience and pathophysiology of contributing factors to PTSD within the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) context can help identify potentially modifiable risk factors, aid risk stratification, and identify knowledge gaps for further study. This narrative review explores the evidence-based neurophysiology of PICU-PTSD, summarizing precipitating and protective factors related to critical care and conceptualizing the disorder in a biopsychosocial framework.
Keywords: Pediatric Critical Care1, PICU Outcomes2, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder3, Neurocritical care4, stress5, Pathophysiology6, Biopsychosocial model7
Received: 10 Jan 2025; Accepted: 02 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hay. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: R. E. Hay, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.