Effects of Daily Interruption of Sedatives in Critically Ill Children
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2006-07-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Critically ill children are often sedated in order to relieve them from anxiety and
discomfort, and to facilitate their care. There is little information on the effects of
prolonged and continuous use of sedatives and analgesic agents in critically ill children. In
adult intensive care unit (ICU) patients, daily interruption of sedative infusions
accelerates recovery resulting in a reduction in the average duration of mechanical
ventilation of 2.4 days as well as a reduction in average ICU length of stay of 3.5 days.
These results were achieved without an increased rate of adverse events potentially linked to
less sedation and associated with a reduction of common complications of critical illness and
without negative psychological effects.
It is unknown whether these results can be extrapolated to critically ill children. Moreover,
the possible risk of complications associated with less sedation, such as accidental
self-extubation, is probably higher in children. Also, the need for intermittent bolus
administrations in children treated with intermittent sedation could nullify the reduction in
the use of sedatives.
It is unknown if daily interruption of sedatives is feasible in critically ill children. The
researchers studied the effects of daily interruption of sedatives in critically ill children
on the total amount of sedatives used and risks of complications.