ReviewCureus2019
Treatment Options for Acute Agitation in Psychiatric Patients: Theoretical and Empirical Evidence.
Review in Cureus, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 2 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Antipsychotic medication for behaviors that challenge in individuals with intellectual disabilities: a clinically informed review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Adverse effects of antipsychotics on sleep in patients with schizophrenia. Systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Real-World Assessment of Healthcare Resource Utilization-Defined Manic and Depressive Events Among Patients with Bipolar I Disorder Treated with Cariprazine Versus Aripiprazole.Advances in therapy · 2026Article
- Serotonin receptor 4 in the ventral CA3 regulates agomelatine-induced anxiolytic-like behaviors.Acta pharmacologica Sinica · 2026Article
- Strategic and tactic use of antipsychotic medications in schizophrenia: a perspective on current prescription practice.Discover mental health · 2025Review
- Novel and Emerging Treatments for Agitation in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Efficacy and Safety of Ziprasidone Injection vs Haloperidol Injection for Agitation in Patients with Acute Schizophrenia.Alpha psychiatry · 2025Article
- Management of Antenatal Agitation in a Tertiary Care Center in Central India: A Secondary Analysis.Cureus · 2024Article
- Developing a community-based model of care for venipuncture in children and young adults with an intellectual disability: a retrospective study.BMJ paediatrics open · 2024Observational
- Emergency department management of acute agitation in the reproductive age female and pregnancy.World journal of emergency medicine · 2024Review
- Article
- Sublingual Dexmedetomidine for the Treatment of Agitation in Patients with Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Review
- Characterizing PRN Use of Psychotropic Medications for Acute Agitation in Canadian Long-Term Care Residents with Dementia Before and During COVID-19.Journal of Alzheimer's disease reports · 2023Article
- The Management of Psychomotor Agitation Associated with Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder: A Brief Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Review
- Which Emergent Medication Should I Give Next? Repeated Use of Emergent Medications to Treat Acute Agitation.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Acute agitation is a common presenting symptom in the emergency ward and is also dealt with on a routine basis in psychiatry. Usually a symptom of an underlying mental illness, it is considered urgent and immediate treatment is indicated. The practice of treating agitation on an acute care basis is also referred to as rapid tranquilization. A variety of psychotropic drugs and combinations thereof can be used. The decision is usually made based on availability and the clinician's experience, with the typical antipsychotic haloperidol (alone or in combination with antihistaminergic and anticholinergic drugs such as promethazine), the benzodiazepines lorazepam, diazepam and midazolam as well as a variety of atypical antipsychotics being used for this purpose. Haloperidol is associated with extrapyramidal symptoms (which can be controlled by co-administration of promethazine) and may control agitation without inducing sedation, while benzodiazepines have a more pronounced sedating activity. The atypical antipsychotics aripiprazole and ziprasidone are better tolerated, while olanzapine is also a powerful sedative. Clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of different treatment options have been conducted but they are extremely heterogenous and most have numerous methodological flaws, leading to a poor overall quality of evidence upon which guidelines for the appropriate treatment could be based. The combination of haloperidol and promethazine, which combines the sedative properties of the antihistamine with the more selective calming action of haloperidol (with a reduced risk of extrapyramidal effects compared to haloperidol alone because of the anticholinergic properties of promethazine) may be the best choice based on empirical evidence.
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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.