Scientists followed ER patients for a year after they survived near-death experiences

We’re often told that a near-death experience is a life-changing event that transforms sufferers’ outlook on life.  

But new research has found that contrary to popular belief, patients who return from the brink of death remain exactly the same a year later.

In what is believed to be one of the first studies of its kind, experts monitored 19 people after they experienced a near-death experience in the intensive care unit (ICU). They then followed up with them 12 months later. 

The researchers – who published their findings in the journal Critical Care – originally looked at 126 patients who had been the five ICUs at the University of Liege in Belgium for more than a week.

The patients were admitted to the ICU for a variety of reasons, including respiratory, cardiovascular, digestive, kidney, neurological, and metabolic illnesses. The majority of participants surveyed were admitted for surgical reasons. 

They found that 15 percent them – 19 people – had a near-death experience. These patients were then studied further. 

They were interviewed three to seven days after discharge from the hospital and asked about dissociative experiences, such as forgetting who they were or feeling disconnected from themselves. They were also asked about spiritual, religious, and personal beliefs.

At the time patients were initially interviewed, those who had a near-death experience experienced a greater propensity for dissociative symptoms.

These included feeling disconnected from oneself, feeling little to no pain, and feeling uncertain about who you are- and increased spiritual and personal well-being. 

Researchers contacted them again one year later to measure their quality of life. 

After that period of time, there was found no significant association with quality of life, despite the fact that NDEs (near-death experiences) ‘are typically reported as transforming and may be associated with negative emotions,’ the researchers wrote. 

Dr Bruce Greyson, who developed the NDE scale the researchers used in the study, has found that 10 to 20 percent of people whose hearts have stopped experience an NDE. 

This is five percent of the overall population.  

Greyson has defined NDEs as ‘intensely vivid and often life-transforming experiences, often occurring under extreme physiological conditions such as life-threatening trauma, cardiac arrest, or deep anesthesia.’ 

The results in Critical Care differ from previous research done within the last year. 

A 2022 study conducted by Greyson found that participants had significant differences in quality of life, even 20 years after the initial events.

The researchers for the Critical Care findings wrote that more research is still needed to confirm these findings.