News Report | October 27, 2019
No Clear Benefits Or Harms Of Antipsychotics Associated With Routine Use For Delirium
Using antipsychotics to prevent or treat delirium in postoperative hospitalized adults presents no clear benefits (but also no clear harms), according to a comparative effectiveness study. Across the studies analyzed, a small group found that compared with a placebo, second-generation antipsychotics (SGA) may slightly decrease the incidence of delirium.
The researchers concluded that although there was no clear evidence of harm, the slight benefit of SGAs on preventing postoperative delirium was offset by the cardiac side effects of first- and second-generation antipsychotics. They noted that the postoperative delirium studies were small, and that studies with larger groups might . . .