Background Observational studies suggest that some patients meeting criteria for ARDS no
longer fulfill the oxygenation criterion early in the course of their illness. This subphenotype
of rapidly improving ARDS has not been well characterized. We attempted to assess the
prevalence, characteristics, and outcomes of rapidly improving ARDS and to identify which
variables are useful to predict it. Methods A secondary analysis was performed of patient
level data from six ARDS Network randomized controlled trials. We defined rapidly …