An international prospective observational study
Understanding ARDS
across different
patients and settings.
POLARIS studies whether inflammatory phenotypes assigned from routine clinical data remain informative across intensive care units and healthcare systems.
for Patient and Disease Phenotyping
One clinical syndrome.
Different biological responses.
Acute respiratory distress syndrome brings together patients with different injuries, inflammatory responses and clinical trajectories. This heterogeneity may help explain why the same treatment does not have the same effect in every patient.
Hyperinflammatory and hypoinflammatory phenotypes describe differences in systemic inflammation. Clinical classifiers offer a way to estimate these phenotypes using vital signs, laboratory results and ventilatory variables available in routine care.
These measurements also reflect local practice. A classifier developed in one setting must be tested prospectively in others, where patients, treatments and missing data differ.
18 routine variables
Clinical and laboratory measurements
Inflammatory phenotypes
Estimated with AI-CLARITY
International validation
Prospective evaluation across ICU settings
What POLARIS will test
From retrospective findings
to prospective evaluation.
The primary question is whether prospectively assigned inflammatory phenotypes are associated with 28-day mortality.
The study will also assess transportability and examine whether associations with early intravenous corticosteroids differ by phenotype within a prespecified causal framework.
Read the scientific approachObservation within routine care
- Day 0
- Baseline data and phenotype assignment
- Days 3 & 7
- Repeated assessment and clinical course
- Day 28
- Vital status
No treatment is allocated by POLARIS. Biological validity and clinical utility require evaluation beyond an association with mortality.
An investigator-initiated program
A study across ICU settings.
Academic, community and private adult ICUs can express interest. Participation follows the applicable national and local approvals.