Antipsychotic Use for ICU Delirium and Associated Inflammatory Markers.

We sought to evaluate critically ill patients with delirium to evaluate inflammatory cytokine production and delirium progression and the role of antipsychotics. Adult critically ill patients with confirmed delirium according to a positive CAM-ICU score were included and IL-6 and IL-8 levels were trended for 24 h in this single-center, prospective, observational cohort study. A total of 23 patients were consented and had blood samples drawn for inclusion. There was no difference in IL-6 and IL-8 levels at baseline, 4 to 8 h, and 22 to 28 h after enrollment when comparing patients based on antipsychotic exposure. We identified 2 patient clusters based on age, APACHE III, need for mechanical ventilation, and concomitant infection. In cluster 1, 5 (33.3%) patients received antipsychotics versus 5 (62.5%) patients in cluster 2 ( = .18). Patients in cluster 1 had more co-inflammatory conditions ( < .0001), yet numerically lower baseline IL-6 ( = .18) and IL-8 levels ( = .80) compared to cluster 2. Patients in cluster 1 had a greater median number of delirium-free days compared to cluster 2 (17.0 vs 6.0 days;  = .05). In critically ill patients with delirium, IL-6 and IL-8 levels were variable and antipsychotics were not associated with improvements in delirium or inflammatory markers.