The Effects of Family Voice Intervention on Delirium in Adult Critical Care Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Junhee Lee, Jiyeon Kang
PMID 41074669WHAT IT FOUND
Recorded family voice messages in ICU patients reduced delirium incidence and duration.
The effect was seen when voice messages were combined with other sensory, cognitive or sleep supports, but not when voice messages were used alone. Ventilation and ICU stay did not shorten.
Key findings
01Family voice interventions, sometimes combined with sensory, cognitive or sleep-focused elements, reduced delirium incidence (OR = 0.282, 95% CI: 0.126-0.630, p = 0.002).
02The same interventions, sometimes combined with sensory, cognitive or sleep-focused elements, reduced delirium duration (Hedges' g = -1.929, 95% CI: -2.980 to -0.879, p < 0.001).
03The significant effects were seen in multicomponent interventions; single-component family voice alone did not reach statistical significance.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only six trials were available, and some subgroup comparisons rested on a single publication. The trials varied widely in what was recorded, how long it lasted, when it started and how often it was given. Risk of bias was not low: one trial had high risk and four had some concerns, especially for randomisation and selective reporting. The review did not use GRADE, sensitivity analyses or publication-bias checks because too few studies were included. No trial reported hospital length of stay, and effects after ICU discharge were not assessed. Single-component family voice alone did not show a statistically significant effect in the subgroup analysis.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The work was funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat recorded family voice alone as proven. The overall reduction was positive, but multicomponent interventions were significant while single-component voice alone was not, and the evidence had high heterogeneity and risk of bias.