Observational studyInternational journal of clinical pharmacy2024
Valproic acid for agitation in the intensive care unit: an observational study of psychiatric consults.
Observational study in International journal of clinical pharmacy, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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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
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.
- Valproic acid for the management of agitation in neurosurgical intensive care unit patients.Neurocritical care · 2026Article
- Anxiolytic and sedative effects of sodium valproate with different experimental paradigms in male and female rats.Neuropsychopharmacology reports · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAgitation is a common clinical problem encountered in the intensive care unit (ICU). Treatment options are based on clinical experience and sparse quality literature.
aimThe aim of this study was to describe the effect of valproic acid (VPA) as adjuvant treatment for agitation in the ICU, identify predictors of response to VPA and evaluate the independent effect of VPA on agitation compared to standard of care (SOC).
methodThis retrospective single center observational study evaluated adult patients admitted to the ICU for whom a psychiatric consultation was requested for agitation management, with agitation defined as a Richmond Agitation Sedation Score of 2 or greater. A descriptive analysis of the proportion of agitation-free patients per day of follow-up, the incidence of agitation-related-events, as well as the evolution of co-medications use over time are presented. A logistic regression model was used to assess predictors of VPA response, defined as being agitation-free on Day 7 and generalized estimating equations were used to evaluate the independent effect of VPA as adjuvant therapy for agitation in the critically ill.
resultsOne hundred seventy-five patients were included in the study with 78 receiving VPA. The percentage of agitation-free patients on VPA was 6.5% (5/77) on Day 1, 14.1% (11/78) on Day 3 and 39.5% (30/76) on Day 7. Multivariate regression model for clinical and demographic variables identified female gender as predictor of response on Day 7 (OR 6.10 [1.18-31.64], p = 0.03). The independent effect of VPA was non-significant when compared to SOC.
conclusionAlthough VPA used as adjuvant treatment was associated with a decrease in agitation, its effect when compared to SOC did not yield significant results.
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