How stress hormones affect recovery after severe illness
Official title: Glucocorticoids in short- and long-term critical illness outcomes
Funded at University of Michigan at Ann Arbor · NIH-11324599 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at whether glucocorticoids (stress hormones) help people survive and recover mentally after severe illnesses like sepsis.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Michigan at Ann Arbor NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Ann Arbor, United States) |
| Project start | July 1, 2024 |
| Project end | April 30, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $390,000 |
| NIH project number | 5R35GM154671-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11324599 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults who survived sepsis or another ICU-level critical illness and can attend memory and mental health follow-up visits would be ideal candidates.
✕Less likely to help
People without a recent ICU stay or those with severe cognitive impairment that prevents memory testing are unlikely to benefit from participating.
What this research studies
From a patient's view, researchers will compare sepsis survivors' memories and mental health after ICU care to see if glucocorticoids help preserve factual memories of the ICU and lower later anxiety or PTSD symptoms. The team will recruit sepsis survivors from their hospital for memory testing and follow-up mental health checks. In parallel, lab work will study how glucocorticoid receptors in a small brainstem area control blood pressure and immune responses using precise neural-circuit tools. Together the human and lab studies aim to explain why some people don’t respond to glucocorticoids and to find ways to make treatments work better.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could lead to treatments that improve short-term survival and reduce long-term mental health problems after critical illness by targeting glucocorticoid pathways.
How similar studies have gone: Previous clinical studies have shown glucocorticoids can improve short-term survival and hinted at mental-health benefits, but the specific memory and brainstem-signaling hypotheses are relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Spencer-Segal, Joanna Louise — University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
- Study coordinator: Spencer-Segal, Joanna Louise
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
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Glucocorticoids and critical illness outcomes in ICU patients
A researcher team at Columbia University will study how glucocorticoids affect short- and long-term outcomes for people who survive critical illness, including mental health and recovery aspects.
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Heme-Driven Immune Dysregulation in Critical Illness
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.