Delirium is a common neurocognitive complication after cardiac surgery.

The aim of this systematic review was to determine whether the administration of dexmedetomidine in the perioperative period decreases the incidence of postoperative delirium in adult patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

Central, CINAHL, Ovid Embase, Ovid Medline, and Web of Science databases were searched for RCTs of adult patients undergoing cardiac surgery where participants received i.v. dexmedetomidine or control in the perioperative period.

The methods included systematic review, meta-analysis, and trial sequential analysis. The primary outcome was the incidence of postoperative delirium.

Dichotomous outcomes were presented as risk ratio (RR) using the Mantel–Haenszel method, and continuous variables were presented as mean difference with the inverse variance method.