Blood Serum Concentrations of Routine Drugs in Patients Treated in the Intensive Care Unit.

Patients treated in the intensive care unit (ICU) are treated with a variety of sedative and analgesic drugs to be able to undergo intensive care. The amount of drugs that each patient receives is based on standard dosages where the dose regimen is based on clinical studies with a limited number of patients included. Most patients treated in the intensive care unit have a varying degree of cardiac, renal or liver failure which affects the metabolism of the drugs administered. Possibly, the drug concentrations achieved with the standard dosages administered to these patients can vary significantly between patients. This may possibly lead to an extended stay at the ICU which gives the patient an unnecessary suffering, affects the patient's family and increases the cost of health care.

Intoxications due to suicidal purposes is common and usually results in intensive care for those who survive. It is often unknown what type of medication or drugs these patients have been taken and what serum concentration it may result in. Screening methods are available but the information it gives us today may not be enough for the initial acute care of the patient. Also, there are no previous studies with reliable documentation regarding the drug concentrations in the blood of patents that die in the intensive care unit. It is also unknown what kind of drugs and amount of doses given before the death of these patients. It is of significant importance to increase the knowledge in this area to be able to evaluate if the medicines administered before death of patients in intensive care could affect the outcome.

Blood samples will be taken according to routine procedures upon the patients arrival at the ICU and then 2 times per day.

The drug analysis includes drugs used for sedation and analgesia. These samples will be analysed at the national board of forensic medicine (Rättsmedicinalverket) in Linköping. There will also be a screening of unknown or suspected drugs taken by self- intoxicated patients. Sedation ratio by the Richmond agitation sedation scale (RASS) will be evaluated and recorded 3 times per day. An assessment of the visual analogy scale (VAS) will be done for the patients who are awake and are able to cooperate. All physiological measurements will be measured and documented according to local routines. For patients who die at the ICU and undergo autopsy, blood samples will be taken after death for analysis of routine drugs.

Inclusion criteria

All patients except for children under the age of 7 treated in the Central intensive care unit at Uppsala university hospital, Uppsala Sweden.

Exclusion criteria

Age < 7 years old.