In this episode, we dive into a recent paper that found that antipsychotics were not effective in treating delirium . . . . at least, not effective in decreasing the number of days with delirium among intubated patients in the ICU, which is a finding that may or may not be relevant to psychiatrists. We spend time examining what the authors mean when they say that "the odds ratio included unity" in the "adjusted and unadjusted analyses" with a review of what exactly an odds ratio is.
The paper we discuss is TD Girard et al. Haloperidol and Ziprasidone for Treatment of Delirium in Critical Illness. N Engl J Med 2018; 379(26):2506-2516. This paper is part of the ABPN MOC program. The podcast authors are not associated with the MOC program and have no knowledge of the questions about the article included in the MOC program.
The JAMA Guide to Statistics and Methods has an easy-to-read, 1.5 page overview of the odds ratio.