The consistent message from all these sedationinterruption
trials is that minimizing sedation
among patients in the ICU provides clinical
benefit. Further support comes from a prospective,
multicenter, longitudinal cohort study showing
that the depth of sedation was independently
associated with the duration of mechanical
ventilation, in-hospital mortality, and rates of
death within 180 days.12 In a randomized, controlled
trial, the use of lighter sedation resulted
in more ventilator-free and ICU-free days.13 In
comparison with deep sedation, the use of lighter
sedation did not increase the rate of short-term
adverse events, and long-term psychiatric outcomes
were either unaffected or improved