Aripiprazole for treating delirium: A systematic review—Is it a valid yet understudied treatment?

Abstract

Background:

Delirium is a neuropsychiatric condition that commonly occurs in medical settings, especially among older individuals. Despite the lack of strong evidence in the literature, haloperidol is considered the first-line pharmacological intervention. Unfortunately, its adverse effects can be severe, and psychiatrists are considering the use of alternative drugs targeting dopamine and serotonin domains (atypical antipsychotics). Among them, aripiprazole is considered to have one of the safest pharmacological profiles.

Aims:

The purpose of this study is to examine the studies on aripiprazole as a pharmacological treatment of delirium present in today’s literature.

Methods:

We carried out systematic research of MedLine, PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, and ScienceDirect examining articles written between January 2002 and September 2023, including experimental studies published in peer-reviewed journals.

Results:

The 6 final included studies examined a total of 130 patients, showing a delirium resolution in a 7-day span of 73.8% of patients treated with aripiprazole.

Conclusions:

Considering the limited data currently available, we can assert that aripiprazole is at least as efficient as haloperidol, the true point is that it has a far better tolerability and safety profile. Nonetheless, further studies are necessary to provide more compelling data, together with a more precise indication regarding minimum efficient dose, as the main limitations of our review are the very small sample size, the small percentage of subjects with preexisting dementia, and the fact that most studies used scales with low specificity for the examined condition.