Thiamine supplementation reduces delirium in ICU patients: Study

USA: Thiamine supplementation may reduce the risk of delirium in critically ill patients, suggests a recent review in the Journal of Critical Care. However, thiamine supplementation did not reduce overall mortality, and mortality in sepsis patients. 

Previous studies have shown thiamine supplementation to be beneficial in critically ill patients. In order to fully appraise the available data, Yub Raj Sedhaia, Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA, and colleagues performed a meta-analysis of 18 published studies.

The researchers conducted a thorough systematic search. The studies enrolling critically ill patients receiving thiamine supplementation were compared with the standard of care (SOC) group. RevMan 5.4 was used for data analysis. 

A total of eighteen studies (8 RCTs and 10 cohort studies) met the criteria for quantitative synthesis. 

Key findings of the study included:

Our findings showed that thiamine supplementation in critically ill patients led to a reduction in the incidence of ICU delirium among RCTs. However, there was no significant benefit in terms of overall mortality, and mortality in patients with sepsis," they wrote. "Further, large scale randomized prospective studies are warranted to investigate the role of thiamine supplementation in critically ill patients." 

Reference:

The study titled, "Effect of thiamine supplementation in critically ill patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis," is published in the Journal of Critical Care.

DOI: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0883944121001039