Table 4.

Results: safety

	Dexmedetomidine	Haloperidol	P
ICU mortality, n	0	0	1.00
Hospital mortality, n	0	1	0.31
QTc interval prior to study drug, sec: mean (95% CI)	0.411 (0.384 to 0.438)	0.426 (0.395 to 0.457)	0.41
QTc interval while on study drug, sec: mean (95% CI)	0.395 (0.365 to 0.425)	0.446 (0.423 to 0.457)	0.0061
Patients with abnormal QTc interval (> 0.440 sec) while on study drug: %	40	40	1.00
Patients with longer QTc interval than baseline while on study drug: %	30	70	0.07
Arrhythmia while on study drug: %	20	20	1.00
Patients requiring norepinephrine* infusion while on study drug: %	80	50	0.16
Patients newly requiring norepinephrine or a 20% increase in norepinephrine* infusion in the 8 hours after commencement of study drug: %	20	20	1.00
Of patients requiring norepinephrine, proportion of the time while on study drug receiving norepinephrine: mean (95%CI)	59.8 (17.9 to 100.0)	34.4 (0.0 to 87.1)	0.37
Of patients requiring norepinephrine, level of infusion (μg/min) while on study drug: mean (95%CI)	2.51 (0.07 to 4.90)	3.97 (0.00 to 11.07)	0.55
Any adverse event attributed to the study drug: %	0	10**	0.31
Patients requiring reintubation: n, %	0	0	1.00

* norepinephrine was the only inotropic or vasopressor medication used in any study patient

** excessive prolongation of the QTc interval, necessitating drug discontinuation

CI = confidence interval; ICU = intensive care unit; QTc = QT interval corrected for heart rate.