Early sedation with dexmedetomidine in ventilated critically ill patients and heterogeneity of treatment effect in the SPICE III randomised controlled trial

link.springer.com March 8, 2021

In critically ill mechanically ventilated patients, early sedation with dexmedetomidine exhibited a high probability of reduced 90-day mortality in older patients regardless of operative or non-operative cluster status.

Conversely, a high probability of increased 90-day mortality was observed in younger patients of non-operative status.

Further studies are needed to confirm these findings.

HTE was assessed according to age and clusters (based on 12 baseline characteristics) using a Bayesian hierarchical models.

DEX was associated with lower 90-day mortality compared to usual care in patients > 65 years, with 97.7% probability of reduced mortality across broad categories of illness severity.

Conversely, the probability of increased mortality in patients ≤ 65 years was 98.5%