These guidelines provide a roadmap for developing integrated, evidence-based, and patient-centered protocols for preventing and treating pain, agitation, and delirium in critically ill patients.

We found substantial agreement among a large, interdisciplinary cohort of international experts regarding evidence supporting recommendations, and the remaining literature gaps in the assessment, prevention, and treatment of Pain, Agitation/sedation, Delirium, Immobility (mobilization/rehabilitation), and Sleep (disruption) in critically ill adults. Highlighting this evidence and the research needs will improve Pain, Agitation/sedation, Delirium, Immobility (mobilization/rehabilitation), and Sleep (disruption) management and provide the foundation for improved outcomes and science in this vulnerable population.

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Objective To test the hypothesis that duration of delirium in the intensive care unit (ICU) is an independent predictor of long-term cognitive impairment after critical illness requiring mechanical ventilation. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Medical ICU in a large community hospital in the United States. Patients Mechanically ventilated medical ICU patients who were assessed daily for delirium while in the ICU and underwent comprehensive cognitive assessments 3 and 12 months after discharge. Measurements and Main Results Of 126 eligible patients, 99 survived ≥3 months post-critical illness; long-term cognitive outcomes were obtained for 77 (78%) patients. Median age was 61 years, 51% were admitted with sepsis/ARDS, and median duration of delirium was 2 days. At 3-and 12-month follow-up, 79% and 71% of survivors had cognitive impairment, respectively (with 62% and 36% being severely impaired). After adjusting for age, education, preexisting cognitive function, severity of illness, severe sepsis, and exposure to sedative medications in the ICU, increasing duration of delirium was an independent predictor of worse cognitive performance—determined by averaging age- and education-adjusted T-scores from nine tests measuring seven domains of cognition—at 3-month (p = 0.02) and 12-month follow-up (p = 0.03). Duration of mechanical ventilation, alternatively, was not associated with long-term cognitive impairment (p = 0.20 and 0.58). Conclusions In this study of mechanically ventilated medical ICU patients, duration of delirium was independently associated with long-term cognitive outcomes, representing a potentially modifiable predictor of this common public health problem.

Lorazepam administration is an important and potentially modifiable risk factor for transitioning into delirium even after adjusting for relevant covariates.

The novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2-causing Coronavirus Disease 19 , emerged as a public health threat in December 2019 and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020. Delirium, a dangerous untoward prognostic development, serves as a barometer of systemic injury in critical illness. The early reports of 25% encephalopathy from China are likely a gross underestimation, which we know occurs whenever delirium is not monitored with a valid tool. Indeed, patients with COVID-19 are at accelerated risk for delirium due to at least seven factors including (1) direct central nervous system (CNS) invasion, (2) induction of CNS inflammatory mediators, (3) secondary effect of other organ system failure, (4) effect of sedative strategies, (5) prolonged mechanical ventilation time, (6) immobilization, and (7) other needed but unfortunate environmental factors including social isolation and quarantine without family. Given early insights into the pathobiology of the virus, as well as the emerging interventions utilized to treat the critically ill patients, delirium prevention and management will prove exceedingly challenging, especially in the intensive care unit (ICU). The main focus during the COVID-19 pandemic lies within organizational issues, i.e., lack of ventilators, shortage of personal protection equipment, resource allocation, prioritization of limited mechanical ventilation options, and end-of-life care. However, the standard of care for ICU patients, including delirium management, must remain the highest quality possible with an eye towards long-term survival and minimization of issues related to post-intensive care syndrome (PICS). This article discusses how ICU professionals (e.g., physicians, nurses, physiotherapists, pharmacologists) can use our knowledge and resources to limit the burden of delirium on patients by reducing modifiable risk factors despite the imposed heavy workload and difficult clinical challenges posed by the pandemic.

Background Delirium or acute brain dysfunction is extremely prevalent in medical intensive care unit (ICU) patients, but limited data exist regarding its prevalence and risk factors among surgical (SICU) and trauma ICU (TICU) patients. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and risk factors for delirium in surgical and trauma ICU patients. Methods SICU and TICU patients requiring mechanical ventilation (MV) >24 hours were prospectively evaluated for delirium using the Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale (RASS) and the Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU (CAM-ICU). Those with baseline dementia, intracranial injury, or ischemic/hemorrhagic strokes that would confound the evaluation of delirium were excluded. Markov models were used to determine predictors for daily transition to delirium. Results One-hundred patients (46 SICU and 54 TICU) were enrolled. Prevalence of delirium was 73% in the SICU and 67% in the TICU. Multivariable analyses identified midazolam [OR 2.75 (CI 1.43–5.26, p = 0.002)] exposure as the strongest independent risk factor for transitioning to delirium. Opiate exposure showed an inconsistent message such that fentanyl was a risk factor for delirium in the SICU (p = 0.007) but not in the TICU (p = 0.936), while morphine exposure was associated with a lower risk of delirium (SICU, p = 0.069; TICU p = 0.024). Conclusions Approximately 7 out of 10 SICU and TICU patients experience delirium. In keeping with other recent data on benzodiazepines, exposure to midazolam is an independent and potentially modifiable risk factor for the transitioning to delirium.