Delirium is common among critically ill patients and it prolongs the length of ICU and hospital stays and is associated with worse outcomes, including cognitive impairment and increased mortality. No medications have been shown to have a consistent therapeutic benefit. Delirium is a form of brain dysfunction characterized by the acute onset of fluctuating mental status, inattention, disorganized thinking, and altered level of consciousness. These features are also seen in states of acute sleep deprivation. It is believed that the state of delirium contributes to disrupted sleep just as sleep deprivation is considered a modifiable risk factor for delirium. Improving sleep conditions and other nonpharmacologic interventions to promote sleep may be an underused approach to preventing and treating delirium in critical illness.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.