ArticleAcute and critical care2021
Association of natural light exposure and delirium according to the presence or absence of windows in the intensive care unit.
Article in Acute and critical care, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- 2021 KSCCM clinical practice guidelines for pain, agitation, delirium, immobility, and sleep disturbance in the intensive care unit.Acute and critical care · 2022Guideline
- Hospital Care at Home for Adults Living in Rural Settings: A Qualitative Evaluation.The Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association · 2026Trial
- Beyond technology: the case for a family-focused ICU as disruptive innovation.Intensive care medicine · 2026Article
- Article
- Intensive Care Unit Room Characteristics and Association with the Development of Delirium.NeuroSci · 2026Article
- Innovation in intensive care: a framework to turn ideas and concepts into actionable solutions.Intensive care medicine · 2026Review
- A room with a view: Recovery bed environment following pediatric spinal fusion.North American Spine Society journal · 2026Article
- Minimum requirements for the design of Brazilian intensive care units: is it time for a change?Critical care science · 2026Review
- Article
- Improving sleep in ICUs through real-time sleep monitoring: a proof-of-concept study.Annals of intensive care · 2026Article
- Delirium Management in Critical Care: Are We Moving Forward or Still Treading Water?Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Optimizing Sleep Hygiene in the Hospital Environment.Sleep medicine clinics · 2025Review
- Development of a Nomogram Model to Predict the Risk of Postoperative Delirium in Cardiac Surgery Patients.Journal of cardiovascular translational research · 2025Article
- Article
- Light levels in a modern intensive care unit: Impact of time of year, window directionality, and outdoor light levels.Chronobiology international · 2025Article
- Reinforcement learning model for optimizing dexmedetomidine dosing to prevent delirium in critically ill patients.NPJ digital medicine · 2024Article
- Exploratory analysis of factors influencing hospital preferences among the Lebanese population: a cross-sectional study.BMJ open · 2024Article
- Review
- Article
- Physical space of thirty pediatric intensive care units in the United States of America: a national survey.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPatients in the intensive care unit (ICU) have increased risks of delirium, which is associated with worse outcomes. As pharmacologic treatments for delirium are ineffective, prevention is important. Nonpharmacologic preventive strategies include exposure to natural light and restoring circadian rhythm. We investigated the effect of exposure to natural light through windows on delirium in the ICU.
methodsThis retrospective cohort study assessed all patients admitted to the medical ICU of a university-affiliated hospital between January and June 2020 for eligibility. The ICU included 12 isolation rooms, six with and six without windows. Patients with ICU stays of >48 hours were included and were divided into groups based on their admission to a single room with (window group) or without windows (windowless group). The primary outcome was the cumulative incidence of delirium. The secondary outcomes were the numbers of delirium- and mechanical ventilation-free days, ICU and hospital length of stay, and in-ICU and 28-day mortalities.
resultsOf the 150 included patients (window group: 83 [55.3%]; windowless group: 67 [44.7%]), the cumulative incidence of delirium was significantly lower in the window group than in the windowless group (21.7% vs. 43.3%; relative risk, 1.996; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.220-3.265). Other secondary outcomes did not differ between groups. Admission to a room with a window was independently associated with a decreased risk of delirium (adjusted odds ratio, 0.318; 95% CI, 0.125-0.805).
conclusionsExposure to natural light through windows was associated with a lower incidence of delirium in the ICU.
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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.