Abstract
Background:
Clinical usefulness of trazodone for delirium in patients receiving palliative care is unclear.
Objectives:
To examine the safety and effectiveness of trazodone for delirium.
Design:
A secondary analysis of a multicenter prospective observational study.
Setting/Subjects:
The setting involves nine psycho-oncology consultation services and 14 inpatient palliative care units in Japan.
Measurements:
The measurement involves the Delirium Rating Scale (DRS) Revised-98 for effectiveness and the CTCAE (Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events) version 4 for safety assessments.
Results:
Thirty-eight patients enrolled the study. Mean age was 75 years. After three-day observation, the DRS total score (11.6 ± 5.3 to 8.7 ± 6.5 [difference −2.9, 95% confidence interval −5.3 to −0.5, p = 0.02]); sleep–wake cycle disturbance (p = 0.047), lability of affect (p < 0.001), and motor agitation subscales (p < 0.001) were significantly decreased. The most frequent adverse event was somnolence (n = 9).
Conclusions:
Low-dose trazodone treatment was generally safe and may be effective in reducing delirium severity.
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