SynthesisIntensive care medicine2019
The effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions in reducing the incidence and duration of delirium in critically ill patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Intensive care medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04750395 (Open-label Randomized Controlled Trial of Oral Transmucosal Haloperidol and Olanzapine in the Treatment of Terminal Delirium), which is not on this map. Cited by 49 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Open-label Randomized Controlled Trial of Oral Transmucosal Haloperidol and Olanzapine in the Treatment of Terminal Delirium
Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 103 citations in OpenAlex.
- Multicomponent non-pharmacological interventions for preventing delirium in critically ill patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic meta-review of interventions to prevent and manage delirium in the Intensive Care Unit: Part 1 - Pharmacological interventions.Critical care (London, England) · 2025Pooled it
- The effect of virtual reality stimulation on reducing the incidence of delirium among patients admitted to intensive care units: a systematic review study.BMC anesthesiology · 2025Pooled it
- A systematic meta-review of interventions to prevent and manage delirium in the Intensive Care Unit: Part 2 - Non-pharmacological and multicomponent interventions.Critical care (London, England) · 2025Pooled it
- Barriers to healthcare professionals screening, recognizing, and managing delirium in the adult patients receiving specialist palliative care: a mixed-methods systematic review.BMC palliative care · 2025Pooled it
- Non-Pharmacological Interventions for Minimizing Physical Restraints Use in Intensive Care Units: An Umbrella Review.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions to prevent delirium in critically ill patients: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Intensive care medicine · 2021Pooled it
- A call to action for delirium research: Meta-analysis and regression of delirium associated mortality.BMC geriatrics · 2020Pooled it
- Melatonin for prevention of delirium in patients receiving mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit: a multiarm multistage adaptive randomized controlled clinical trial (DEMEL).Intensive care medicine · 2025Trial
- Acute brain dysfunction clusters in COVID-19: a pilot machine learning-based analysis of the COVID-D cohort.Intensive care medicine experimental · 2026Article
- Clinical Nursing Management of Adult Patients with Delirium in a Hospital Setting-A Systematic Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Nursing delirium management to promoting critically ill patients' safety: an umbrella review.Acute and critical care · 2025Article
- Author Response: The Range of Nonpharmacological Measures to Prevent Delirium on Intensive Care Units is Broader than Assumed.Indian journal of critical care medicine : peer-reviewed, official publication of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine · 2025Article
- Patients' and family members' dyadic experience of post-operative delirium in the intensive care unit: A qualitative study.Nursing in critical care · 2025Article
- Effectiveness of non-pharmacological intervention protocol for prevention of postoperative delirium in the surgical intensive care unit.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Prevention of Delirium in the Intensive Care Unit through Nonpharmacological Interventions: An Umbrella Review.Indian journal of critical care medicine : peer-reviewed, official publication of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine · 2025Article
- Co-design and mixed methods evaluation of an interdisciplinary digital resource for undergraduate health profession students to improve the prevention, recognition, and management of delirium in Ireland: a study protocol.BMC medical education · 2024Article
- Decreasing the incidence of delirium via multi-sensory stimulation in patients receiving mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit: A protocol for a randomized feasibility study.Contemporary clinical trials communications · 2024Article
- Management of delirium in acute stroke patients: a position paper by the Austrian Stroke Society on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.Therapeutic advances in neurological disorders · 2024Review
- A randomized, clinical trial investigating the use of a digital intervention to reduce delirium-associated agitation.NPJ digital medicine · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeTo evaluate the effect of non-pharmacological interventions versus standard care on incidence and duration of delirium in critically ill patients.
methodsWe searched electronic and grey literature for randomised clinical trials up to March 2018. Two reviewers independently screened, selected and extracted data. Meta-analysis was undertaken using random effects modelling.
resultsWe identified 15 trials (2812 participants). Eleven trials reported incidence of delirium. Pooled data from four trials of bright light therapy showed no significant effect between groups (n = 829 participants, RR 0.45, 99% CI 0.10-2.13, P = 0.19, very low quality evidence). Seven trials of various individual interventions also failed to report any significant effects. A total of eight trials reported duration of delirium. Pooled data from two trials of multicomponent physical therapy showed no significant effect [n = 404 participants, MD (days) - 0.65, 99% CI - 2.73 to 1.44, P = 0.42, low quality of evidence]. Four trials of various individual interventions also reported no significant effects. A trial of family voice reorientation showed a beneficial effect [n = 30, MD (days) - 1.30, 99% CI - 2.41 to - 0.19, P = 0.003, very low quality evidence].
conclusionsCurrent evidence does not support the use of non-pharmacological interventions in reducing incidence and duration of delirium in critically ill patients. Future research should consider well-designed and well-described multicomponent interventions and include adequately defined outcome measures.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.