[The euthyroid sick syndrome in severe acute illness].

Objective: To describe euthyroid sick syndrome (ESS) and its different clinical variants in severe acute illness.

Design: This prospective cohort study examined hormone results and outcome for patients admitted to our intensive care unit (ICU).

Methods: In this heterogeneous group of 108 patients from our ICU we analyzed the prevalence of ESS and its influence on mortality and sought to determine if any thyroid indicators had a prognostic value.