Prevalence and risk factors related to haloperidol use for delirium in adult intensive care patients: the multinational AID-ICU inception cohort study

Purpose: We assessed the prevalence and variables associated with haloperidol use for delirium in ICU patients and explored any associations of haloperidol use with 90-day mortality. Methods: All acutely admitted, adult ICU patients were screened during a 2-week inception period. We followed the patient throughout their ICU stay and assessed 90-day mortality. We assessed patients and their variables in the first 24 and 72 h in ICU and studied their association together with that of ICU characteristics with haloperidol use. Results: We included 1260 patients from 99 ICUs in 13 countries. Delirium occurred in 314/1260 patients [25% (95% confidence interval 23–27)] of whom 145 received haloperidol [46% (41–52)]. Other interventions for delirium were benzodiazepines in 36% (31–42), dexmedetomidine in 21% (17–26), quetiapine in 19% (14–23) and olanzapine in 9% (6–12) of the patients with delirium. In the first 24 h in the ICU, all subtypes of delirium [hyperactive, adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 29.7 (12.9–74.5); mixed 10.0 (5.0–20.2); hypoactive 3.0 (1.2–6.7)] and circulatory support 2.7 (1.7–4.3) were associated with haloperidol use. At 72 h after ICU admission, circulatory support remained associated with subsequent use of haloperidol, aOR 2.6 (1.1–6.9). Haloperidol use within 0–24 h and within 0–72 h of ICU admission was not associated with 90-day mortality [aOR 1.2 (0.5–2.5); p = 0.66] and [aOR 1.9 (1.0–3.9); p = 0.07], respectively. Conclusions: In our study, haloperidol was the main pharmacological agent used for delirium in adult patients regardless of delirium subtype. Benzodiazepines, other anti-psychotics and dexmedetomidine were other frequently used agents. Haloperidol use was not statistically significantly associated with increased 90-day mortality

Mortality after surgery in Europe: a 7 day cohort study

Background: Clinical outcomes after major surgery are poorly described at the national level. Evidence of heterogeneity between hospitals and health-care systems suggests potential to improve care for patients but this potential remains unconfirmed. The European Surgical Outcomes Study was an international study designed to assess outcomes after non-cardiac surgery in Europe.Methods: We did this 7 day cohort study between April 4 and April 11, 2011. We collected data describing consecutive patients aged 16 years and older undergoing inpatient non-cardiac surgery in 498 hospitals across 28 European nations. Patients were followed up for a maximum of 60 days. The primary endpoint was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcome measures were duration of hospital stay and admission to critical care. We used χ² and Fisher’s exact tests to compare categorical variables and the t test or the Mann-Whitney U test to compare continuous variables. Significance was set at p<0·05. We constructed multilevel logistic regression models to adjust for the differences in mortality rates between countries.Findings: We included 46 539 patients, of whom 1855 (4%) died before hospital discharge. 3599 (8%) patients were admitted to critical care after surgery with a median length of stay of 1·2 days (IQR 0·9–3·6). 1358 (73%) patients who died were not admitted to critical care at any stage after surgery. Crude mortality rates varied widely between countries (from 1·2% [95% CI 0·0–3·0] for Iceland to 21·5% [16·9–26·2] for Latvia). After adjustment for confounding variables, important differences remained between countries when compared with the UK, the country with the largest dataset (OR range from 0·44 [95% CI 0·19 1·05; p=0·06] for Finland to 6·92 [2·37–20·27; p=0·0004] for Poland).Interpretation: The mortality rate for patients undergoing inpatient non-cardiac surgery was higher than anticipated. Variations in mortality between countries suggest the need for national and international strategies to improve care for this group of patients.Funding: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, European Society of Anaesthesiology