Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Sep;28(5):738-743.
doi: 10.1111/nicc.12906. Epub 2023 Apr 3.

Does improving sleep for the critically ill reduce the incidence and duration of delirium? An evidence-based review

Rosalind Elliott  1   2   3 , Lori Delaney  4   5
Affiliations
Review

Does improving sleep for the critically ill reduce the incidence and duration of delirium? An evidence-based review

Rosalind Elliott et al. Nurs Crit Care. 2023 Sep.

Abstract

Delirium is associated with poor patient outcome. Critical-care nurses maintain that patients with disrupted sleep appear to develop delirium. We sought to explore whether improving sleep in the critically ill patients reduced the incidence and duration of delirium. Our review of five relevant studies suggests that there is low-quality evidence that improving sleep may reduce the incidence of delirium. The bidirectional association between delirium and sleep stymies research in this area, and thus, establishing cause and effect, is difficult. Research exploring other patient-centred outcomes, such as pain intensity, suggests that enhancing sleep may improve these outcomes.

Keywords: critical illness; delirium; sleep.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Aung Thein MZ, Pereira JV, Nitchingham A, Caplan GA. A call to action for delirium research: meta-analysis and regression of delirium associated mortality. BMC Geriatr. 2020;20(1):325. doi:10.1186/s12877-020-01723-4
    1. Boyko Y, Toft P, Ording H, Lauridsen JT, Nikolic M, Jennum P. Atypical sleep in critically ill patients on mechanical ventilation is associated with increased mortality. Sleep Breath. 2019;23(1):379-388. doi:10.1007/s11325-018-1718-3
    1. Pisani MA, D'Ambrosio C. Sleep and delirium in adults who are critically ill: a contemporary review. Chest. 2020;157(4):977-984. doi:10.1016/j.chest.2019.12.003
    1. Yang Z, Pituskin E, Norris C, Papathanassoglou E. Synthesis of intensive care Nurses' experiences of caring for patients with delirium. Med Psychol. 2020;14(2):55-77. doi:10.1891/WFCCN-D-20-00015
    1. Delaney LJ, Litton E, Van Haren F. The nexus between sleep disturbance and delirium among intensive care patients. Crit Care Nurs Clin North Am. 2021;33(2):155-171. doi:10.1016/j.cnc.2021.01.001

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources