BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Family members of patients in the intensive care unit(ICU) with COVID-19 often experience abrupt change in circumstance and thus may have PTSD symptoms needing emotional support, a new study has found.

These family members often have to make difficult decisions quickly and feel a loss of control, and hence they come away from the experience with symptoms of anxiety, depression and PTSD, according to the study published this week in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

Dr. Timothy Amass, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and his team surveyed family members in the months after a loved one was admitted to the ICU with COVID-19 in 12 hospitals across the United States.

The study found out of the families that responded to the survey, about 63 percent had significant symptoms of PTSD, according to a CNN report citing the study.

"Having a loved one admitted into the ICU has always been an inherently stressful -- and often traumatic -- process, but the COVID-19 pandemic pushed researchers to look even more closely at the impacts," Amass, who is first author of the study, told CNN.

The author suggested the health care community make efforts to help these families, saying that small acts of kindness from the health care team will make families feel the sense of involvement and be kind of helpful. Enditem

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