ICU sedation, delirium & recovery
Reporting of Hospital-Free Days As an Outcome Measure in Critical Care Trials: A Systematic Review
Authors' conclusion
This systematic review highlights the heterogeneity in the definition, reporting, and analysis of HFD.
Study context
- Population
- Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) (registrations, protocols or articles) of critically ill adults admitted to an adult ICU with any variation of hospital-free days (HFD) as a primary or secondary outcome
- Participants
- 110 eligible studies
- Outcome
- Definition and reporting of HFD
Methodological detailsRisk of bias assessed with relevant domains of the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 tool
- Risk of bias assessed with relevant domains of the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 tool
Pooled result
As reported in the abstract
Studies not reporting all three individual components of HFD
69
62.7%
Studies collecting HFD data from routine healthcare records
52
47.3%
Most common follow-up time points (days)
28 and 90
Studies not reporting the number of HFD counted if a patient died during follow-up
56
50.9%
Original publication
Reporting of Hospital-Free Days As an Outcome Measure in Critical Care Trials: A Systematic Review. Crit Care Med. Published 24 September 2025. doi:10.
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