Meta-Analysis on Sedation Depth and Delirium in ICU Patients

A systematic review and meta-analysis document investigating the impact of sedation depth on delirium incidence, mortality, and ICU length of stay. The analysis includes 11 studies with 3,466 patients, following PRISMA 2020 guidelines and registered with PROSPERO. The document was authored by Haining Zheng and last updated in May 2026.

Use Cases

• Informing ICU sedation protocol design based on associations between deep sedation and adverse outcomes.
• Supporting clinical decision-making for mechanically ventilated patients based on evidence linking sedation depth to delirium risk.
• Guiding future research on dexmedetomidine's effects by highlighting the current evidence gap mentioned in the secondary analysis.

Strengths

• Follows PRISMA 2020 guidelines and is registered with PROSPERO (CRD420251054377), indicating a structured methodology.
• Analyzes 11 studies (6 RCTs, 5 cohorts) involving 3,466 patients, providing a quantitative synthesis.
• Reports specific effect sizes: OR 1.34 for delirium, OR 1.71 for mortality, and MD 1.17 days for ICU LOS.

Limitations

• The dataset is a 219.2 KB DOCX document, which is a small text file containing the analysis report, not the underlying raw data.
• Column-level documentation is absent; the document's structure and any supplementary data must be inferred after download.
• The secondary analysis on dexmedetomidine is noted to have low statistical power due to a small number of included studies.

Provenance

Source

figshare

Collection Method

Systematic review and meta-analysis of studies from PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science.

Time Range

Studies published through June 17, 2025.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-04 05:30:18; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global (studies from international databases).