Ciprofol was approved for use in intensive care unit (ICU) patients requiring sedation during mechanical ventilation in July 2022. A pooled post-hoc analysis of phase 2 and phase 3 trials was conducted primarily to explore hypotension-free outcome in ICU patients who required mechanical ventilation and achieved the target light sedation goal at an early stage after being sedated with ciprofol or propofol.

All eligible ICU patients who were expected to require sedation for 6–24 h were randomly assigned in a 2:1 ratio to either a ciprofol or propofol group. Ciprofol or propofol was initially infused at loading doses of 0.5 or 1.0 mg/kg followed by maintenance doses of 0.3 or 1.5 mg/kg/h. Ciprofol or propofol dosages were adjusted up or down at rates of 0.05–0.10 mg/kg/h or 0.25–0.50 mg/kg/h, respectively, to achieve the target light sedation (a Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale of -2 to + 1). The primary post-hoc outcome was the hypotension-free rate in patients who had achieved the target sedation goal after 30-min administration of ciprofol or propofol.

In total, 174 patients were enrolled for pooled post-hoc analysis, of whom 116 and 58 were assigned to the ciprofol and propofol groups, respectively. The hypotension-free rate was significantly higher in patients who achieved the target sedation goal after 30-min administration of ciprofol (93.0% vs. 81.0%, P  = 0.018), and especially in the subgroups of males and patients aged  <  65 years. Multivariable analysis revealed that ciprofol treatment, a younger age and lower baseline body mass index were independent favorable predictors for a higher hypotension-free rate in patients who achieved the target sedation goal after 30-min of drug administration. Moreover, hypotension-free patients who reached the target sedation level after 30 min had a more favorable short-term prognosis including a lower incidence of drug-related treatment-emergent adverse events, shorter time to extubation and fewer dose adjustments of ciprofol or propofol (all P   <  0.05).

ICU patients undergoing mechanical ventilation and sedated with ciprofol had significantly lower rate of hypotension during the early phase of achieving light sedation during a 6–24 h period, leading to a more favorable short-term prognosis (within 24 h).

Phase 2 trial (clinicaltrials.gov, NCT04147416. Registered November 1, 2019, NCT04147416 ) and phase 3 trial (clinicaltrials.gov, NCT04620031. Registered November 6, 2020, NCT04620031 ).