Loading...
Delirium affects one third of hospitalized elders and three fourths of adults in intensive care units or palliative care. Although no drugs are approved in the U.S. for managing delirium, antipsychotic agents frequently are used for this purpose. Investigators performed two systematic reviews to evaluate the efficacy and safety of antipsychotic agents for preventing delirium (14 randomized clinical trials; ≈4300 patients) and treating delirium (16 randomized trials and 10 observational studies; >5500 patients).
For delirium prevention, haloperidol did not lower delirium incidence or duration, hospital length of stay, or mortality compared with placebo. Evidence was too limited to fully evaluate newer antipsychotic agents (e.g., risperidone, …