TY - JOUR T1 - Acute respiratory distress syndrome  JF - Clinical Medicine JO - Clin Med SP - 439 LP - 443 DO - 10.7861/clinmedicine.17-5-439 VL - 17 IS - 5 AU - Christopher Mason AU - Nessa Dooley AU - Mark Griffiths Y1 - 2017/10/01 UR - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/17/5/439.abstract N2 - Acute respiratory distress syndrome is a common cause of acute respiratory failure that is underdiagnosed both inside and outside of intensive care units. Progression to the most severe forms of the syndrome confers a mortality rate greater than 40% and is associated with often severe functional disability and psychological sequelae in survivors. While there are no disease-modifying pharmacotherapies for the syndrome, this progression may be prevented through the institution of quality improvement measures that minimise iatrogenic injury associated with acute severe illness. ER -