What is ARDS?
Acute respiratory distress syndrome, usually called ARDS, is a serious condition in which inflammation and injury prevent the lungs from moving enough oxygen into the blood. It can develop during illnesses such as a severe infection.
People with ARDS need hospital care, often in an intensive care unit. Depending on their condition, they may receive oxygen, breathing support through a mask or a breathing machine.
Why can patients be different?
ARDS describes a pattern of lung illness. It does not mean that everyone has the same biological response. For example, some patients have a stronger inflammatory response throughout the body than others.
Researchers call groups with shared features “phenotypes”. POLARIS uses information such as blood test results and vital signs to estimate inflammatory phenotypes and study how they relate to the course of illness.
What does POLARIS want to understand?
The study asks whether these groups can be identified consistently in different hospitals and countries, and whether they are associated with survival and differences in the response to treatments already being given.
The results may help researchers design future studies. Taking part does not promise a direct health benefit, and a phenotype result does not establish which treatment will work for an individual patient.