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Unsuspected serotonin toxicity in the ICU

Gil Ben-Horin
Published: Dec 16, 2016

An observational prospective cohort study performed at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam set out to determine whether delirious patients admitted to the ICU and MCU show characteristics that possibly match serotonergic toxicity, in order to gain more clarity on whether or not serotonergic toxicity should be considered as one of the contributing factors in delirious patients. The authors found that a significant proportion of ICU patients who have been diagnosed with delirium might in fact be classified as suffering from serotonin toxicity and showed that awareness of potential serotonin toxicity is low among physicians in their tertiary university ICU. Given the lack of existing studies, the authors point out the necessity for further studies about the incidence and prevalence of serotonin toxicity in ICU patients and the effect of possible early therapeutic interventions. Demographic characteristics for the study, such as age, gender, and severity of illness expressed in Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II and IV score, were collected in MetaVision.

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