Characteristics Associated With Delirium in Older Patients in a Medical Intensive Care Unit

Open Access

13 August 2007

journal article
research article
Published by American Medical Association (AMA) in Archives of internal medicine (1960)

Vol. 167 (15) , 1629-1634
https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.167.15.1629

Abstract

Delirium is an acute disorder of attention and cognition with a reported prevalence of 78% to 87% among intensive care unit (ICU) patients.¹^-3 Delirium causes increased morbidity, mortality, nursing home placement, longer ICU and hospital stays, and costlier hospitalizations.⁴^,5 In patients who receive mechanical ventilatory assistance, delirium is a predictor of 6-month mortality.⁶ Patients with 1 episode of delirium had a 40% increase in ICU and total hospital costs, after controlling for confounding variables, compared with patients with no delirium.⁷ Moreover, delirium is listed as 1 of the 6 leading causes of preventable injury in those older than 65 years.⁸

This publication has 36 references indexed in Scilit:

A research algorithm to improve detection of delirium in the intensive care unit
Critical Care, 2006
Lorazepam Is an Independent Risk Factor for Transitioning to Delirium in Intensive Care Unit Patients
Anesthesiology, 2006
Delirium as a Predictor of Mortality in Mechanically Ventilated Patients in the Intensive Care Unit
JAMA, 2004
Costs associated with delirium in mechanically ventilated patients*
Critical Care Medicine, 2004
Delirium in the Intensive Care Unit: Occurrence and Clinical Course in Older Patients
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2003
The impact of delirium in the intensive care unit on hospital length of stay
Intensive Care Medicine, 2001
Delirium in an intensive care unit: a study of risk factors
Intensive Care Medicine, 2001
Evaluation of delirium in critically ill patients: Validation of the Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU)
Critical Care Medicine, 2001
Precipitating factors for delirium in hospitalized elderly persons. Predictive model and interrelationship with baseline vulnerability
JAMA, 1996
A Predictive Model for Delirium in Hospitalized Elderly Medical Patients Based on Admission Characteristics
Annals of Internal Medicine, 1993