- The reported incidence of ARDS is highly variable:
- 2.5%–19% in studies of ICU patients
- 8.1% in a sole study in UK ICU
- The most extensive study looking at the epidemiology of ARDS is the LUNG SAFE trial:
- Observational study across 50 ICUs in 5 continents
- A total of 29,144 patients were included
- Found ARDS was present in 3,022 patients (10.4% of all admission to ICU)
- The severity of those diagnosed was:
- Mild 30.0%
- Moderate 46.6%
- Severe 23.4%
- ARDS was recognised in only half of the cases with mild severity
