• Laura Pasin, Giovanni Landoni, Pasquale Nardelli, Alessandro Belletti, Ambra Licia Di Prima, Daiana Taddeo, Francesca Isella, and Alberto Zangrillo.
• Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.
• J. Cardiothorac. Vasc. Anesth. 2014 Dec 1; 28 (6): 1459-66.

ObjectivesDelirium frequently is observed in critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) and is associated strongly with a poor outcome. Dexmedetomidine seems to reduce time to extubation and ICU stay without detrimental effects on mortality. The objective of the authors' study was to evaluate the effect of this drug on delirium, agitation, and confusion in the ICU setting.DesignMeta-analysis of all the randomized clinical trials ever performed on dexmedetomidine versus any comparator in the ICU setting.SettingIntensive care units.ParticipantsCritically ill patients.InterventionsNoneMeasurements And Main ResultsPertinent studies were independently searched in BioMedCentral, PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of clinical trials. Primary endpoint was the rate of delirium, including the adverse events, agitation and confusion. The 13 included manuscripts (14 trials) randomized 3,029 patients. Overall analysis showed that the use of dexmedetomidine was associated with significant reductions in the incidence of delirium, agitation and confusion (298/1,565 [19%] in the dexmedetomidine group v 337/1,464 [23%] in the control group, RR = 0.68 [0.49 to 0.96], p = 0.03). Results were confirmed in subanalyses performed on patients undergoing noninvasive ventilation (1/53 [2%] in the dexmedetomidine group v 7/49 [14%] in the control group, RR=0.18 [0.03 to 1.01], p = 0.05), receiving midazolam as a comparator (268/1,164 [23%] in the dexmedetomidine group v 277/1,025 [27%] in the control group, RR = 0.68 [0.47 to 1.00], p = 0.05) and in general ICU setting patients (204/688 [30%] in the dexmedetomidine group v 204/560 [36%] in the control group, RR = 0.68 [0.45 to 0.81], p < 0.01).ConclusionsThis meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies suggests that dexmedetomidine could help to reduce delirium in critically ill patients.Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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