What is it about?

Post-operative delirium is a well-known life-threatening complication of older patients after hip fracture. However, it was unknown how delirium duration modulates this risk. We recruited 199 patients from a Orthogeriatric Unit and assessed delirium and its duration during hospital admission. We also assessed vital status at 6 months.

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Why is it important?

Our findings show that duration of post-operative delirium is an important prognostic factor for 6-month mortality in In older adults undergoing hip fracture surgery. Efforts to reduce the duration of post-operative delirium are therefore crucial for these individuals

Perspectives

I hope that this article makes physicians aware of the importance to evaluate post-operative delirium daily in their clinical practice. Delirium requires a prompt intervention to resolve it and it's not simply a symptom to be recorded in medical charts

Prof Giuseppe Bellelli
Universita degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Duration of Postoperative Delirium Is an Independent Predictor of 6-Month Mortality in Older Adults After Hip Fracture, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, June 2014, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/jgs.12885.
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