Fig. 2

Thyroid axis 5 years after ICU admission: comparison with controls and within-patient evolution from ICU discharge. Data are shown as mean and standard error of the mean. The gray rectangles at the right side of the panels reflect mean plus or minus the standard error of the mean of the controls matched to the patients at 5-year follow-up. TSH concentrations were square root-square root transformed and rT₃ and T₃/rT₃ were square root transformed to obtain a near normal distribution, allowing repeated-measures ANOVA and t test. Y-axes were transformed back to original values. Patients who received thyroid hormone treatment in ICU or were on chronic thyroid hormone treatment at follow-up were excluded. TBG concentrations were measured in all available LD and 5y samples, but only in a subset of the samples available for the other time points (Adm: n = 34, d4: n = 44, d7: n = 33, 1y: n = 12, 2y: n = 11, 3y: n = 18, 4y: n = 18). Adm: ICU admission, d4: day 4 in ICU, d7: day 7 in ICU, LD: last day in ICU, 1y: one year after ICU admission, 2y: two years after ICU admission, 3y: three years after ICU admission, 4y: four years after ICU admission, 5y: five years after ICU admission, ICU: intensive care unit