Roadmap for Delirium Risks, Prevention, Treatment, Prognosis and Research Provided By Study

According to a review, Delirium, a condition with significant short and long-term effects on cognition and function, should be identified as an indicator of poor long-term prognosis. This helps in prompting immediate and effective management strategies.

"Delirium is extremely common among older adults in intensive care units and is not uncommon in other hospital units and in nursing homes, but too often it's ignored or accepted as inevitable. Delirium significantly increases risk of developing dementia and triples likelihood of death. It can't be ignored," said Regenstrief Institute investigator Babar A. Khan, M.D., M.S., assistant professor of medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine and an Indiana University Center for Aging Research scientist, the first author of the review.

Decreased Consciousness - Symptom Evaluation
Consciousness can be decreased to various degrees and result in conditions like delirium, stupor, coma, persistent vegetative state, minimal conscious state and brain death.

The authors reviewed 45 years of research encompassing 585 studies to provide a roadmap for the identification of risks, prevention and treatment options as well as prognoses related to delirium.

"As an intensive care unit physician, I have seen that about 80 percent of ICU patients who need mechanical assistance to breathe develop delirium," Dr. Khan said. "That's because in addition to being on a respirator, they have multiple risk factors that can predispose and precipitate delirium, including but not limited to serious illness, restraints and pre-existing cognitive impairment."

Source-Eurekalert

Earplugs Improve Sleep and Reduce Delirium in ICU Patients
ICU patients sleep better and have a delayed onset of delirium if they use earplugs during the night.

Better Care Could Prevent One Third of Delirium Cases
At least one third of cases of delirium could be prevented if better systems of care were in place according to a doctor in today’s BMJ.

Hospital Seclusion Move Moves Patients to Delirium
When patients are moved into isolation while admitted in hospital, they are twice likely to develop delirium, a risky state of mental status impacting hospital patients.