Do Sedation and Neuromuscular Blockade Influence the Outcome of Adult Intensive Care Patients? A Prospective Observational Study

A prospective observational study was conducted on patients admitted to an adult intensive care unit (ICU) to investigate the pattern of sedation, analgesia and neuromuscular blockade and to determine their relationship to patient outcomes. Data including age, gender, diagnoses, dosage of sedatives, analgesics and neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBA), duration of mechanical ventilation, admission and weaning sedation scores, ICU length of stay and outcomes were recorded; 1550 patient-days were studied from 140 mechanically ventilated patients, of which 52 (37%) received NMBA. The mean length of stay in patients receiving NMBA was 15.6 days compared to 11.7 in patients who did not receive them (p=0.08). Mean duration of mechanical ventilation was 12.5 days in patients receiving NMBA, while it was 10.2 days in patients who did not receive NMBA (p=0.21). Neuromuscular blockade did not significantly influence the duration of mechanical ventilation, length of stay and survival of ICU patients.