Methods. This descriptive cross-sectional study enrolled 353 patients from three ICUs (medical-surgical, cardiac, and
neurological). To measure outcomes, patients were asked to report the presence of thirst (yes/no) and, if present, to rate its
intensity and distress on zero to 10 numeric rating scales (10 ¼ worst). Predictor variables were demographic (e.g., age),
treatment-related (e.g., opioids), and biological (e.g., total body water). Data were analyzed with logistic regression and
truncated regression with alpha preset at 0.05.