Sleep and Delirium in the Critically III: Cause or Effect?

A review of the literature raises the question of how important it is to monitor the quality of sleep in the ICU to avoid clinical consequences such as delirium that seem to be independently associated with worse outcomes, such as prolonged ventilator dependence, ICU length of stay, and hospital length of stay, and is an independent predictor of higher 6-month mortality. Every day spent by ICU patients in a state of delirium is associated with a 10% higher risk of death and worse long-term cognitive function, and delirium is associated with an increase in costs. Taking into consideration the increasing number of elderly patients treated in our ICUs, this burden will rise. Future research should focus on the pathophysiology, cause, and treatment of sleep deprivation and of the occurrence of delirium.