OBJECTIVE To identify scales that can establish a quantitative assessment of delirium symptoms in critically ill patients through a systematic review. METHODS Studies that evaluated delirium stratification scales in patients hospitalized in intensive care units were selected in a search performed in the MedLine database. Validation studies of these scales and their target patient populations ...

Introduction Delirium is common in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients and associated with poor outcome. Therefore delirium prevention is imperative. Interventions targeting several delirium risk factors represent a promising strategy for prevention. In preparation for a stepped wedge randomized controlled trial to study the effect of a multicomponent intervention program on ICU delirium, we dev...

Factors initiating senile delirium were examined in 129 elderly inpatients (65 years or older). Sixty-eight patients were males and 61 females, with a mean age of 76.3 years. Delirium developed in most cases on the first two days of admission in the hospital, and the admission appeared to be a key factor precipitating delirium in about 30% of the patients. Delirium resolved or improved in 80% o...

BACKGROUND While nurses play a key role in identifying delirium, several authors have noted variability in their ability to recognize delirium. We sought to measure the impact of a simple educational intervention on the ability of intensive care unit (ICU) nurses to clinically identify delirium and to use a standardized delirium scale correctly. METHODS Fifty ICU nurses from two different hos...

BACKGROUND Delirium occurs frequently in older hospitalised patients and is associated with several adverse outcomes. Ignorance among healthcare professionals and a failure to recognise patients suffering from delirium have been identified as the possible causes of poor care. The objective of the study was to determine whether e-learning can be an effective means of improving implementation of ...

BACKGROUND Post-stroke delirium is a common problem in the care of stroke patients, and is associated with longer hospitalization, high short-term mortality, and an increased need for long-term care. Although post-stroke delirium occurs in approximately 10 ~ 30% of patients, little is known about the risk factors for post-stroke delirium in patients who experience acute stroke. METHODS A tota...

BACKGROUND Identification of delirium in emergency departments (ED) is often underestimated; within EDs, studies on delirium assessment and relation with patient outcome in Intermediate Care Units (IMCU) appear missing in European hospital settings. Here we aimed to determine delirium prevalence in an EDIMCU (Hospital de Braga, Braga, Portugal) and assessed routine biochemical parameters that m...

OBJECTIVES To determine the presentation, course and duration of delirium in hospitalized older people. DESIGN Observational cohort study. SETTING Inpatient surgical and medical wards at a university hospital. PARTICIPANTS 432 people over the age of 65. MEASUREMENTS All participants were screened daily for confusion and, in those who were confused, delirium was ascertained using the Dia...

BACKGROUND Delirium and dementia are highly interrelated. However, few comprehensive epidemiological studies have examined this altered state of consciousness superimposed on dementia. We investigated the frequency of delirium in patients with dementia, its prevalence in patients with each dementia type, and its association with cerebrovascular disease (CVD) in patients with neurodegenerative d...

Delirium is associated with circadian rhythm disruption. In this study we have explored whether circadian variation of melatonin is an indicator for delirium. Melatonin levels were determined from the first day of hospitalization and up to three days after the onset of delirium. Patients who did not developed delirium exhibited a daily melatonin rhythm, while in patients that developed delirium...