Suvorexant and Sleep/Delirium in ICU Patients

Summary

Investigators will evaluate the efficacy of postoperative oral suvorexant treatment on nighttime wakefulness after persistent sleep onset (WASO) among adult cardiac surgical patients recovering in the cardiac intensive care unit (ICU). The study include patients ≥ 60 years old undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG), with or without valve surgery (aortic or mitral). Patients will receive either oral suvorexant or placebo for 7 nights starting the night after extubation. The primary hypothesis is that suvorexant compared with placebo decreases WASO, as measured by a specialized electroencephalogram (EEG), the SedLine monitor, during the first night in the cardiac ICU. Investigators will also assess total sleep time (TST), time to sleep onset (TSO), and postoperative delirium and delirium-free days.

Timeline

Start

2020-02-28

Primary completion

2025-02-26

Completion

2025-07-01

Publications

• Background Figueroa-Ramos MI, Arroyo-Novoa CM, Lee KA, Padilla G, Puntillo KA. Sleep and delirium in ICU patients: a review of mechanisms and manifestations. Intensive Care Med. 2009 May;35(5):781-95. doi: 10.1007/s00134-009-1397-4. Epub 2009 Jan 23.
• Background Timm FP, Zaremba S, Grabitz SD, Farhan HN, Zaremba S, Siliski E, Shin CH, Muse S, Friedrich S, Mojica JE, Kurth T, Ramachandran SK, Eikermann M. Effects of Opioids Given to Facilitate Mechanical Ventilation on Sleep Apnea After Extubation in the Intensive Care Unit. Sleep. 2018 Jan 1;41(1). doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsx191.
• Background Herring WJ, Connor KM, Snyder E, Snavely DB, Morin CM, Lines C, Michelson D. Effects of suvorexant on the Insomnia Severity Index in patients with insomnia: analysis of pooled phase 3 data. Sleep Med. 2019 Apr;56:219-223. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2018.09.010. Epub 2018 Oct 2.
• Background Herring WJ, Snyder E, Budd K, Hutzelmann J, Snavely D, Liu K, Lines C, Roth T, Michelson D. Orexin receptor antagonism for treatment of insomnia: a randomized clinical trial of suvorexant. Neurology. 2012 Dec 4;79(23):2265-74. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e31827688ee. Epub 2012 Nov 28.
• Background Michelson D, Snyder E, Paradis E, Chengan-Liu M, Snavely DB, Hutzelmann J, Walsh JK, Krystal AD, Benca RM, Cohn M, Lines C, Roth T, Herring WJ. Safety and efficacy of suvorexant during 1-year treatment of insomnia with subsequent abrupt treatment discontinuation: a phase 3 randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet Neurol. 2014 May;13(5):461-71. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(14)70053-5. Epub 2014 Mar 27.
• Background Sun H, Kennedy WP, Wilbraham D, Lewis N, Calder N, Li X, Ma J, Yee KL, Ermlich S, Mangin E, Lines C, Rosen L, Chodakewitz J, Murphy GM. Effects of suvorexant, an orexin receptor antagonist, on sleep parameters as measured by polysomnography in healthy men. Sleep. 2013 Feb 1;36(2):259-67. doi: 10.5665/sleep.2386.
• Background Bourne RS, Minelli C, Mills GH, Kandler R. Clinical review: Sleep measurement in critical care patients: research and clinical implications. Crit Care. 2007;11(4):226. doi: 10.1186/cc5966.
• Background Kamdar BB, Shah PA, King LM, Kho ME, Zhou X, Colantuoni E, Collop NA, Needham DM. Patient-nurse interrater reliability and agreement of the Richards-Campbell sleep questionnaire. Am J Crit Care. 2012 Jul;21(4):261-9. doi: 10.4037/ajcc2012111.
• Background Berry RB, Brooks R, Gamaldo C, Harding SM, Lloyd RM, Quan SF, Troester MT, Vaughn BV. AASM Scoring Manual Updates for 2017 (Version 2.4). J Clin Sleep Med. 2017 May 15;13(5):665-666. doi: 10.5664/jcsm.6576. No abstract available.
• Background Vacas S, McInrue E, Gropper MA, Maze M, Zak R, Lim E, Leung JM. The Feasibility and Utility of Continuous Sleep Monitoring in Critically Ill Patients Using a Portable Electroencephalography Monitor. Anesth Analg. 2016 Jul;123(1):206-12. doi: 10.1213/ANE.0000000000001330.
• Background Drouot X, Roche-Campo F, Thille AW, Cabello B, Galia F, Margarit L, d'Ortho MP, Brochard L. A new classification for sleep analysis in critically ill patients. Sleep Med. 2012 Jan;13(1):7-14. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2011.07.012. Epub 2011 Dec 6.
• Background Younes M, Ostrowski M, Soiferman M, Younes H, Younes M, Raneri J, Hanly P. Odds ratio product of sleep EEG as a continuous measure of sleep state. Sleep. 2015 Apr 1;38(4):641-54. doi: 10.5665/sleep.4588.
• Background Dres M, Younes M, Rittayamai N, Kendzerska T, Telias I, Grieco DL, Pham T, Junhasavasdikul D, Chau E, Mehta S, Wilcox ME, Leung R, Drouot X, Brochard L. Sleep and Pathological Wakefulness at the Time of Liberation from Mechanical Ventilation (SLEEWE). A Prospective Multicenter Physiological Study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2019 May 1;199(9):1106-1115. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201811-2119OC.
• Background Ely EW, Shintani A, Truman B, Speroff T, Gordon SM, Harrell FE Jr, Inouye SK, Bernard GR, Dittus RS. Delirium as a predictor of mortality in mechanically ventilated patients in the intensive care unit. JAMA. 2004 Apr 14;291(14):1753-62. doi: 10.1001/jama.291.14.1753.
• Background Hatta K, Kishi Y, Wada K, Takeuchi T, Ito S, Kurata A, Murakami K, Sugita M, Usui C, Nakamura H; DELIRIA-J Group. Preventive Effects of Suvorexant on Delirium: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial. J Clin Psychiatry. 2017 Sep/Oct;78(8):e970-e979. doi: 10.4088/JCP.16m11194.
• Background Tamura K, Maruyama T, Sakurai S. Preventive Effect of Suvorexant for Postoperative Delirium after Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting. Ann Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2019 Feb 20;25(1):26-31. doi: 10.5761/atcs.oa.18-00038. Epub 2018 Aug 9.
• Background Herring WJ, Connor KM, Snyder E, Snavely DB, Zhang Y, Hutzelmann J, Matzura-Wolfe D, Benca RM, Krystal AD, Walsh JK, Lines C, Roth T, Michelson D. Suvorexant in Elderly Patients with Insomnia: Pooled Analyses of Data from Phase III Randomized Controlled Clinical Trials. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2017 Jul;25(7):791-802. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2017.03.004. Epub 2017 Mar 8.
• Wongtangman K, Reddy Janga S, Azimaraghi O, Khandaker R, Khera T, Leff J, Forest SJ, Suleiman A, Tam C, Spindel S, DeYoung PN, Malhotra A, Subramaniam B, Eikermann M. Effect of the orexin receptor antagonist, suvorexant, on sleep architecture in the early postoperative period following cardiac surgery: a randomized controlled trial. Crit Care. 2026 Jun 23. doi: 10.1186/s13054-026-06151-1. Online ahead of print.
• Azimaraghi O, Hammer M, Santer P, Platzbecker K, Althoff FC, Patrocinio M, Grabitz SD, Wongtangman K, Rumyantsev S, Xu X, Schaefer MS, Fuller PM, Subramaniam B, Eikermann M. Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial evaluating the effects of the orexin receptor antagonist suvorexant on sleep architecture and delirium in the intensive care unit. BMJ Open. 2020 Jul 19;10(7):e038474. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-038474.

Drugs

Indications