EXPANDED ANALYSIS ON SPIRITUALITY AND INTENSIVE CARE UNIT OUTCOMES

Abstract Spirituality is a highly heterogeneous concept with no universally accepted definition, varying across cultures, religions, and historical contexts. This conceptual ambiguity poses challenges for developing standardized clinical assessment tools, even though growing evidence indicates that spiritual beliefs and practices influence emotional well-being, stress regulation, and physical health outcomes. In 2021, the Brazilian Society of Cardiology highlighted the clinical relevance of this topic by recommending that physicians include spiritual anamnesis in routine evaluations, particularly for patients with chronic or severe conditions.This study investigated 200 lucid and conscious Intensive Care Unit patients admitted for clinical reasons. Because no standardized method exists to measure spirituality, researchers developed a brief scoring system to classify individuals as “spiritualized” or “non-spiritualized.” Prior to this classification, each patient’s predicted mortality risk was determined using the SAPS 3 score, which estimated an average mortality of about 20% across the cohort.Patients identified as spiritualized showed lower-than-predicted mortality rates, suggesting a potential protective effect of active spirituality, though causality cannot be inferred. These findings align with literature proposing that spirituality may enhance resilience, reduce stress responses, and support adherence to treatment.Sex-based differences also emerged: women showed substantially lower mortality, particularly within the non-spiritualized group, where their mortality was 2.5 times lower than that of men. This pattern may reflect underlying biological, hormonal, or psychosocial factors.Length of Intensive Care Unit stay did not differ significantly between groups, indicating that spirituality may influence survival more than recovery speed. Overall, the results support incorporating spiritual assessment into routine Intensive Care Unit care.