Evaluation of Delirium-Related Rates and Factors in the Elderly Admitted to Selected Teaching Hospitals in Tehran, Iran in 2020-2021

Background and Purpose: Delirium is an acute and fluctuating change in the patient’s mental state associated with decreased alertness and attention deficit disorder that occurs abruptly. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of delirium-related factors in older adults hospitalized in selected teaching hospitals in Tehran, Iran. Methods: The present study is a cross-sectional analysis and the statistical population is all the elderly hospitalized in the emergency and internal wards of Firoozabadi and Rasoul Akram hospitals. The sampling method was simple random and three hundred elderly people with inclusion criteria were included in the study. In order to collect the required information, a demographic questionnaire, medical history and 4AT tools were used to assess delirium. Related blood biomarkers were also examined. After collection, the data were entered into SPSS software version 24. In descriptive statistics, mean, standard deviation and in inferential statistics, Pearson correlation were used and in the present study, a significance level of 0.05 was determined. Results: The mean age of patients was 70.91±8.77 years, 53% of patients were male, and 62% were married. Thirty-one percent of the elderly were exposed to delirium and 43% of the patients had delirium.There was a significant relationship between patients’ delirium status and history of polypharmacy (P<0.001, r=0.503), independence in daily functional activity at home (P<0.001, r=0.404), history of hospitalization in the past month (P <0.001, R=0.390), patients’ hearing and vision (P=0.001, r=0.362 and P=0.006, r=0.382, respectively), history of cognitive impairment (P=0.002, r=0.350), Parkinson’s disease and history of specialized treatment for depression (P=0.004, r=0.301, and P=0.012, r=0.218, respectively), and history of chronic pain (P=0.043, r=0.251). Conclusion: Early detection and diagnosis of delirium syndrome can prevent adverse outcomes. In order to initially identify this syndrome, it is necessary to identify the risk factors of this syndrome and to provide appropriate and comprehensive interventions to reduce the adverse effects of this syndrome for the elderly with delirium in hospitals.