Delirium and sleep disturbances in the intensive care unit: can we do better?

Assessment of sleep quality using cardiopulmonary coupling and its predictive value for delirium in ICU patients

OBJECTIVE

To assess sleep quality in intensive care unit (ICU) patients using cardiopulmonary coupling (CPC) analysis and explore its predictive value for delirium.

METHOD

ICU patients (n = 135) were divided into the delirium group (n = 44) and control group (n = 91) based on the Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU). CPC analysis was used to evaluate the sleep quality of all participants.

RESULT

Intergroup comparisons showed that total sleep time, stable sleep time, and sleep efficiency were significantly lower in the delirium group than in the control group, whereas unstable sleep time, rapid eye movement sleep time, wake-up time, stable sleep latency, and apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) were significantly higher in the delirium group than in the control group. Logistic regression analysis showed that advanced age and AHI were risk factors for delirium, whereas stable sleep time was a protective factor for delirium. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that stable sleep time and stable sleep latency had a certain predictive value for delirium; the area under the ROC curve (AUC) for stable sleep time was higher (0.888 vs. 0.704). The cut-off value for stable sleep time was 0.65 h, with a sensitivity of 84.1 % and specificity of 81.3 %.

CONCLUSION

ICU patients with delirium have poorer sleep quality than patients without delirium. Stable sleep time derived from the CPC has a high predictive value for delirium and may serve as an objective indicator for its diagnosis.

Sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances in intensive care unit (ICU)-acquired delirium: a case-control study

OBJECTIVE

The relationships among sleep, circadian rhythm, and intensive care unit (ICU)-acquired delirium are complex and remain unclear. This study aimed to examine the pathophysiological mechanisms of sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances in patients with ICU-acquired delirium.

METHODS

This study included critical adult patients aged 18 to 75 years who were treated in the ICU. Twenty-four-hour polysomnography was performed and serum melatonin and cortisol levels were measured six times during polysomnography. Receiver operating characteristic curves and binomial logistic regression were used to evaluate the potential of sleep, melatonin, and cortisol as indicators of delirium in the ICU.

RESULTS

Patients with delirium (n = 24) showed less rapid eye movement (REM) sleep compared with patients without delirium (n = 24, controls). Melatonin levels were lower and cortisol levels were higher in the delirium group than in the control group. REM sleep, melatonin, and cortisol were significantly associated with delirium. The optimal cutoff values of REM sleep and mean melatonin and cortisol levels that predicted delirium were ≤1.05%, ≤422.09 pg/mL, and ≥212.14 ng/mL, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

REM sleep, and melatonin and cortisol levels are significantly associated with the risk of ICU-acquired delirium. Improved sleep and readjustment of circadian rhythmicity may be therapeutic targets of ICU-acquired delirium.

Sclerotherapy for Venous Malformations of the Pharynx or the Tongue Base Without Tracheostomy: Treatment Protocol With Intubation and Outcomes

Venous malformations (VMs) occurring in the tongue base or pharynx are rare, but can cause airway obstruction. Considering the potential issues or morbidity related to surgical resection in the tongue or pharynx region, sclerotherapy is often preferred. We perform sclerotherapy for such lesions without conducting tracheotomy, but keep patients intubated for a certain period. Outcomes of sclerotherapy, and benefits and cautions related with our protocol were investigated.Our subjects were 10 cases in 9 patients who underwent sclerotherapy for VMs of the tongue base (6 patients) or pharynx (3 patients) from 2008 to 2017. One patient underwent treatment sessions twice. The sclerosants used were absolute ethanol (ET) (3 cases), 5% ethanolamine oleate (EO) (4 cases), or both ET and 5%EO (3 cases).In 5 of 9 patients, postoperative MRI was performed, which revealed lesion volume reduction by 12% to 47%. The intubation period varied according to the sclerosant used: ET, 5 to 11 days; 5% EO, 2 to 12 days; and combination of ET and 5% EO, 8 days. Postoperative complications included fever of unknown (n = 2), acute psychosis (n = 3), vocal cord paralysis (n = 2), and bradycardia induced from the use of a sedative agent (n = 1). One patient complained of mild transient swallowing difficulty that lasted for a month postoperatively.Although our method mandatorily requires careful postoperative management in an ICU, including sedation with anesthetic agents and artificial respiration by intubation for a certain period of time, no serious complications or post-therapeutic morbidities occurred.

Prophylactic use of exogenous melatonin and melatonin receptor agonists to improve sleep and delirium in the intensive care units: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

To investigate the efficacy of exogenous administration of melatonin and melatonin receptor agonists for the improvement of delirium, sleep, and other clinical outcomes of subjects in the intensive care unit (ICU). We carefully searched three electronic databases, i.e., Pubmed/Medline, Embase, and Cochrane library, to retrieve randomized controlled trials (RCTs) administrating melatonin or melatonin receptor agonists to adult subjects admitted to the ICU. Useful data such as the prevalence of delirium, duration of sleep, number of awakenings per night, duration of mechanical ventilation, and ICU stay as well as in-ICU mortality were extracted and pooled by using a random effect model. Eight RCTs were included in the qualitative analysis. Administration of exogenous melatonin and melatonin receptor agonists was associated with a trend towards elongated duration of sleep (pooled weighted mean difference/WMD = 0.43; 95% confidence intervals/CIs, - 0.02~0.88, p = 0.063) and could decrease the number of awakenings per night (pooled WMD = - 2.03; 95% CIs, - 3.83~- 0.22, p = 0.028). Meanwhile, participants in the treatment group showed a significantly reduced prevalence of delirium (pooled risk ratio/RR = 0.49; 95% CIs, 0.28~0.88, p = 0.017) and duration of ICU stay (pooled WMD = - 0.32; 95% CI, - 0.56~- 0.07, p = 0.002) in comparison with those in the control group. Exogenous administration of melatonin and melatonin receptor agonists could improve the sleep of subjects in the intensive care units, which may play an important role in decreasing the prevalence of delirium and shortening duration of ICU stay.

[Modern concepts about insomnia in mental disorders: clinical aspects]

Insomnia is one of the most common symptoms of mental pathology (affective, anxious, hypochondriac, asthenic, psychotic) and reveals a number of characteristic features depending on the structure of the mental disorder. Psychopharmacotherapy for insomnia in mental disorders is an important aspect of patient supervision. Doxylamine (donormil) is one of the promising drugs for the correction of insomnia, both in combination with other psychotropic drugs and in monotherapy.

Preventive strategies and potential therapeutic interventions for delirium in sepsis

Delirium is the most frequent and severe clinical presentation of brain dysfunction in critically ill septic patients with an incidence ranging from 9% to 71%. Delirium represents a significant burden for patients and relatives, as well as to the health care system, resulting in higher costs, long-term cognitive impairment and significant risk of death after 6 months. Current interventions for the prevention of delirium typically involve early recognition and amelioration of modifiable risk factors and treatment of underlying conditions that predisposes the individual to delirium. Several pharmacological interventions to prevent and treat delirium have been tested, although their effectiveness remains uncertain, especially in larger and more homogeneous subgroups of ICU patients, like in patients with sepsis. To date, there is inconsistent and conflicting data regarding the efficacy of any particular pharmacological agent, thus substantial attention has been paid to non-pharmacological interventions and preventive strategies should be applied to every patient admitted in the ICU. Future trials should be designed to evaluate the impact of these pharmacologic interventions on the prevention and treatment of delirium on clinically relevant outcomes such as length of stay, hospital mortality and long-term cognitive function. The role of specific medications like statins in delirium prevention is also yet to be evaluated.

Decreases in cerebral saturation in patients with septic shock are associated with increased risk of death: a prospective observational single center study

Background

The mortality rate from septic shock has been declining. Cerebral hypoxia, measured non-invasively with cerebral oximetry, has been correlated with neurologic and non-neurologic sequelae. Whether cerebral desaturations occur in septic shock patients and what consequences these may have is untested.

Methods

Adult patients with septic shock had cerebral saturation monitoring initiated. The primary objective was to determine if the incidence and magnitude of cerebral desaturations in septic shock patients correlated with delirium. We also compared the incidence and magnitude of cerebral desaturations in patients with septic shock with patients undergoing high-risk non-cardiac surgical procedures, a group known to be at high risk for cerebral desaturations.

Results

Fifteen patients were enrolled. Twelve (80 %) patients had a decrease in SctO₂ below 65 %. Delirium was not associated with the area under the curve of an SctO₂ of 65 % (p = 0.84).

Patients who died of septic shock had more significant decreases in SctO₂ than those who survived (p = 0.04).

Decreased SctO₂ was more common in patients with septic shock and was of greater magnitude than those undergoing high-risk non-cardiac surgery.

Conclusions

Cerebral desaturations occur more commonly and are of a greater magnitude in septic shock patients compared with those undergoing high-risk non-cardiac surgery. There did not appear to be a relationship between the incidence or magnitude of decreases in SctO₂ and ICU delirium. Patients who died of septic shock had more significant decreases in SctO₂ than patients who survived.

Comfort and patient-centred care without excessive sedation: the eCASH concept

We propose an integrated and adaptable approach to improve patient care and clinical outcomes through analgesia and light sedation, initiated early during an episode of critical illness and as a priority of care. This strategy, which may be regarded as an evolution of the Pain, Agitation and Delirium guidelines, is conveyed in the mnemonic eCASH—early Comfort using Analgesia, minimal Sedatives and maximal Humane care. eCASH aims to establish optimal patient comfort with minimal sedation as the default presumption for intensive care unit (ICU) patients in the absence of recognised medical requirements for deeper sedation. Effective pain relief is the first priority for implementation of eCASH: we advocate flexible multimodal analgesia designed to minimise use of opioids. Sedation is secondary to pain relief and where possible should be based on agents that can be titrated to a prespecified target level that is subject to regular review and adjustment; routine use of benzodiazepines should be minimised. From the outset, the objective of sedation strategy is to eliminate the use of sedatives at the earliest medically justifiable opportunity. Effective analgesia and minimal sedation contribute to the larger aims of eCASH by facilitating promotion of sleep, early mobilization strategies and improved communication of patients with staff and relatives, all of which may be expected to assist rehabilitation and avoid isolation, confusion and possible long-term psychological complications of an ICU stay. eCASH represents a new paradigm for patient-centred care in the ICU. Some organizational challenges to the implementation of eCASH are identified.