Survivors of ARDS have significant morbidity. Thanks to innovative investigators, we have started to accumulate robust data regarding long-term physical and neuropsychological consequences of ARDS. These prognostic data are important for clinicians, patients and family members; and will be invaluable in the development of ICU and post-ICU multi-component interventions which will reduce short-and long-term morbidity.Herridge and her colleagues have led the way in ICU outcomes research. Their data paint a vivid and startling picture of profound-primarily extra-pulmonary-disability in survivors of critical illness [1][2][3]; and depressive symptoms in caregivers [4]. In ARDS survivors they showed exercise limitation, physical and psychological sequelae, decreased physical quality of life, and increased costs and use of healthcare services persisting over 5 years [1,2]. More recently their Towards RECOVER Study described outcomes of 391 ICU survivors mechanically ventilated for at least 7 days [3]. Using recursive partitioning modeling, the authors could stratify patients into four disability risk groups based on age and ICU length of stay (LOS); these four groups determine 1-year recovery and healthcare utilization independent of admitting diagnosis and illness severity. Patients older than 66 years with ICU LOS longer than 2 weeks sustained the worse disability and had 40 % 1-year mortality. They subsequently validated the four risk groups in their ARDS cohort [5].In an article recently published in Intensive Care Medicine, Pfoh and her colleagues contribute valuable data to the existing literature on ICU outcomes, with 5-year follow-up data from the Improving Care of All Patients (ICAP) study [6]. The ICAP study followed 222 acute lung injury (ALI) survivors for physical morbidity. At discharge 36 % had muscle weakness, with most improving within 12 months [7]; weakness was associated with impairments in physical function and quality of life that persisted at 24 months. Duration of bedrest during critical illness was consistently associated with weakness throughout the 24-month follow-up.The current study reports the trajectory of physical decline of the ICAP cohort over 5 years, and risk factors for decline. In 193 ALI survivors three measures of physical status were evaluated annually: muscle strength using Medical Resource Council (MRC) sumscore, exercise capacity as reflected in the 6 Minute Walk Test (6MWT), and the physical functioning questions of the Short Form SF36 Health Survey. Approximately 1/3 of followup assessments were conducted in patients' homes. For each measure, a patient was considered 'declined' if the score decreased more than the 'Reliable Change Index' at follow-up. Over 5 years, 64 patients (33 %) died and were categorized as 'declined' in all three measures. Overall 86 % of patients experienced death or decline in at least one measure; when decedents were excluded 69 % experienced decline. In the multivariable model, older age was associated with declines in muscle strength, exercise ca...