In our small, single-center study, patients treated with haloperidol or quetiapine showed no short-term improvement in delirium screening scores after starting treatment when compared with untreated, propensity score-matched patients.

A single-center retrospective cohort study was conducted including PICU admissions of ≥ 48 h for children ≥ 2 months old with a positive delirium screening score.

In addition, clinical outcomes were not improved or were worse among treated patients. A prospective trial is needed to evaluate whether antipsychotic medications benefit PICU patients with delirium.

Among 846 eligible admissions, 27 were treated with haloperidol or quetiapine (3.2%).

Time to first delirium-free score was similar for treated versus untreated patients.

Treated patients had no significant change in delirium scores following treatment, while untreated patients’ scores improved after the comparable matching time.

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