Abstract:Objective To analyze the incidence and associated determinants of long-term negative emotions in ICU patients with severe sepsis.Methods Nity-nine patients with severe sepsis admitted to our ICU from January 2019 to December 2020 were selected and followed up for 2 years. Patients developing anxiety and depression were included in the negative emotion group, while those without anxiety and depression were included in the non-negative emotion group, with 30 and 69 cases in each group, respectively. The baseline characteristics, including age, gender, ethnicity, weight, clinical features during hospitalization (length of hospital stay, length of ICU stay, and serum levels of lactate, procalcitonin, and C-reactive protein), diagnoses at admission (cardiovascular, respiratory, infectious and other diseases), severity of the disease [acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II) score, sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score, and septic shock], usage of corticosteroids 72 hours before organ support (mechanical ventilation, CRRTn), and cumulative doses of midazolam, fentanyl, dobutamine, norepinephrine, and haloperidol during ICU stay, were analyzed.Results There was no difference in gender composition, age, ethnicity, weight, frequency of cardiovascular, respiratory, infectious and other diseases, APACHE II score, SOFA score, usage of corticosteroids 72 hours before mechanical ventilation and CRRTn, or cumulative doses of midazolam, dobutamine, and norepinephrine between the two groups of patients (P > 0.05). There were significant differences in the length of hospital stay, length of ICU stay, serum levels of lactate, procalcitonin, and C-reactive protein, incidence of septic shock, and cumulative doses of fentanyl and haloperidol between the two groups of patients (P < 0.05). Multivariable Logistic regression analysis revealed that the length of ICU stay [O^R =0.167 (95% CI: 0.125, 0.616)] and the cumulative dosage of haloperidol [O^R = 3.031, (95% CI: 1.093, 5.830) ] were two risk factors for long-term negative emotions in ICU patients with severe sepsis (P < 0.05).Conclusions ICU patients with severe sepsis are likely to suffer from long-term negative emotions. Among them, those with prolonged length of ICU stay and low cumulative dosage of haloperidol should be paid special attention to and preventive measures should be taken concerning the recurrence of long-term negative emotions.