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Meta-Analysis
. 2025 Feb;51(2):342-352.
doi: 10.1007/s00134-025-07784-6. Epub 2025 Jan 22.

The association between pain, analgesia, and delirium among critically ill adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Amanda Y Leong  1   2   3 , Stefan Edginton  1   2 , Laurie A Lee  4   5 , Natalia Jaworska  1   2   6 , Lisa Burry  7   8 , Kirsten M Fiest  1   2   6 , Christopher J Doig  1   2   6 , Daniel J Niven  9   10   11
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

The association between pain, analgesia, and delirium among critically ill adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Amanda Y Leong et al. Intensive Care Med. 2025 Feb.

Abstract

Purpose: We performed a systematic review with meta-analysis examining the relationship between pain or pain medications and delirium occurence, duration, and severity.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials from inception to May 15, 2023. We included randomised or observational studies among critically ill adults, that reported data on pain or exposure to analgesics, and reported delirium presence, duration, or severity with no language or region restrictions.

Prospero id: CRD42022367715. Two authors independently screened records and extracted data. Risk of bias was evaluated using Risk of Bias 2 or the Risk of Bias In Non-randomized Studies of Interventions. We pooled data using the Hartung-Knapp Sidik-Jonkmann random effects model. PRISMA was followed.

Results: From 8,054 citations, 90 studies (119,230 patients) published between 2001 and 2023 were included in the systematic review. 41 studies were included in the primary meta-analysis examining prevalent delirium: seven studies evaluated pain; 12 studies evaluated fentanyl; and five studies evaluated morphine. There was a trend to association between pain and delirium occurrence (OR 2.49, 95% CI 0.98-6.30), and a significant association between pain and incident delirium (OR 3.70, 95% CI 1.73-7.93). Fentanyl (OR 2.49, 95% CI 1.45-4.27) and morphine (OR 2.13, 95% CI 1.21-3.75) were associated with delirium occurrence. Risk of bias was critical for many studies.

Conclusions: We observed an association between pain and incident delirium among critically ill adults. Exposure to morphine or fentanyl (but no other pain medications) was associated with increased risk of delirium occurrence.

Keywords: Analgesics; Critical care; Delirium; Pain; Pain measurement.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflicts of interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at http://www.icmje.org/disclosure-of-interest/ and declare: no support from any organisation for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous three years; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

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