What is it about?
Delirium is an acute neuropsychiatric condition which is burdened by several negative outcomes. We have assessed the prevalence and impact on in-hospital mortality of delirium identified through ICD-9 codes as well as evidence of neurocognitive deficits demonstrated in a population of 2521 older patients admitted to medical and geriatric acute hospital wards
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Why is it important?
Detection of delirium was poor among medical wards of Italian acute hospitals. However, neurocognitive deficits in attention, orientation, and memory were recorded in most patients and were strong predictors of in-hospital mortality, after adjusting for covariates
Perspectives
Knowledge of delirium should be improved among physicians working at acute hospital wards. Neurocognitive deficits on objective testing (in a pattern suggestive of undiagnosed delirium) should be used to raise awareness of delirium, given their association with in-hospital mortality.
Prof Giuseppe Bellelli
Universita degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Under-detection of delirium and impact of neurocognitive deficits on in-hospital mortality among acute geriatric and medical wards, European Journal of Internal Medicine, November 2015, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejim.2015.08.006.
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