title: Dexmedetomidine preserves attention/calculation when used for cooperative and short-term intensive care unit sedation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Differential effects on cognition were recently demonstrated between dexmedetomidine (DEX) and propofol (PRO) when used for cooperative sedation. Propofol was found to reduce cognition, whereas DEX improved cognition. To further discriminate these effects, we evaluated the effect of PRO vs DEX in selected areas of cognition.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a post hoc analysis of the Acute Neurologic Intensive Care Unit Sedation Trial and an investigator-initiated, prospective, randomized, double-blinded, crossover study, comparing the effect of PRO and DEX on cognition measure by the Johns Hopkins Adapted Cognitive Exam (ACE). A linear model analysis accounting for within-patient correlation of measures was used to estimate differences in ACE subscales between drugs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Propofol diminished adjusted scores on all ACE subscales (P < .05), whereas DEX improved adjusted scores selectively for attention/calculation (3.55; 95% confidence interval, 1.49-5.61; P < .01). The positive and significant difference in ACE scores between agents was present across subscales.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings indicate that DEX improved ACE attention/calculation subscale in awake patients receiving cooperative sedation. This is in contrast to the deterioration in all mean ACE subscale scores observed using PRO, suggesting DEX preserved cognitive function with specific preservation of focus and attention and allows for greater cognition compared with PRO across all cognitive domains.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pharmacy and Anesthesiology, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. Electronic address: hgoodwi3@jhmi.edu.
authors.forename: Haley E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Goodwin
authors.forename: Randeep S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Gill
authors.forename: Peter N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: Carol B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: John J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Lewin
authors.forename: Marek A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Mirski
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects*; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects*; D016292:Procedural Sedation / Q000379:methods*; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D020927:Dexmedetomidine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015742:Propofol / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011446:Prospective Studies
chemical_list: D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D020927:Dexmedetomidine; D015742:Propofol
keywords: Cognition; Critical care; Delirium; Dexmedetomidine; Propofol; Sedatives