A strategy of no sedation failed to reduce mortality when compared with a strategy of light sedation with daily interruption among critically ill, mechanically ventilated patients, according to results from the NONSEDA trial.

In the multicenter, randomized controlled trial, which was published in The New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers assigned mechanically ventilated adults in the ICU to no sedation or light sedation, defined as sedation to a level at which the patient was arousable, based on a score of –2 to –3 on the Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS), with daily interruption.