Study design, setting and participants
delirium, Agitation, psychotic disorder, dementia, schizophrenia, primary acute neurological condition
TORSADE DE POINTES, NEUROLEPTIC MALIGNANT SYNDROME, PARKINSONISM, VENTRICULAR ARRHYTHMIA
We conducted a multi-center randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial in adults with delirium at eight ICUs in the Netherlands. The study protocol was approved by the Medical Ethics Committees of all participating hospitals and has been published [All adult (≥ 18 years) ICU patients were eligible unless they met one or more exclusion criteria: admission to the ICU because of a primary acute neurological condition; pregnancy or breast-feeding; known allergy to haloperidol; history of ventricular arrhythmia (including torsade de pointes); neuroleptic malignant syndrome; parkinsonism; schizophrenia or other psychotic disorder; dementia or an Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) score ≥ 4[Trained ICU nurses evaluated each patient three times daily (once per 8-h shift) for level of sedation with the Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale (RASS) [