Delirium

Medical study first to pinpoint best 'nerve block' treatments for patients needing surgery for hip fractures

(Medical Xpress)—Anesthesiologists now have more direction for treating patients who have broken their hip and are undergoing surgery.

Surgery created Apr 04, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

PTSD symptoms common among ICU survivors

One in three people who survived stays in an intensive care unit (ICU) and required use of a mechanical ventilator showed substantial post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms that lasted for up to two years, according ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Feb 26, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Simple measures to promote sleep can reduce delirium in intensive care patients

A hospital is not the best place to get a good night's sleep, especially in a noisy intensive care unit. It's a cause for concern because studies have shown that a lack of sleep can cause patients to experience delirium—an ...

Health created Feb 20, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Researchers find heart-surgery patients with elevated levels of anxiety, depression less able to care for themselves

It is quite common for patients who have had heart surgery to experience anxiety and short-term memory loss as side effects. New research from Ryerson University has found that heart-surgery patients experiencing these conditions ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Dec 18, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Worries about dementia: How hospitalization affects the elderly

Older people often worry about dementia and while some risks are known, for example alcoholism or stroke, the effects of illness are less clear. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Critical Care looks ...

Alzheimer's disease & dementia created Dec 16, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Hospital-based neurologists worry about career burnout

A survey has identified career burnout as a significant problem among neurologists who predominantly work with hospital inpatients.

Neuroscience created Dec 13, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Contact precautions shown to modify healthcare workers care delivery

The prevention and control of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) can help reduce patient morbidity and mortality, but a common prevention effort for patients with hard to treat infections known as contact precautions, ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Dec 11, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Parenteral hydration no benefit for cancer care in hospices

(HealthDay)—For patients with advanced cancer in hospices, providing parenteral saline (1 liter per day) does not improve symptoms associated with dehydration, quality of life, or overall survival compared ...

Cancer created Nov 28, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Inpatient sleeping drug quadrupled fall risk

A drug commonly prescribed to help patients sleep in hospitals has been associated with an increased risk of falls, according to a study published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine.

Health created Nov 19, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

First-of-its-kind program improves outcomes for seniors admitted for trauma

A first-of-its-kind program at St. Michael's Hospital lowers risk of delirium in elderly patients admitted for trauma and decreases the likelihood they will be discharged to a long-term care facility.

Health created Nov 13, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Tendency to binge drinking runs in the blood

Mice drink more alcohol during the dark cycle compared to daytime.  The discovery made by scientists from  Portland Alcohol Research Center and The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at University of ...

Addiction created Nov 08, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Metabolic patterns of propofol, sevoflurane differ in children

(HealthDay)—For children undergoing routine anesthesia for medically indicated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the metabolic signature varies with use of sevoflurane and propofol, according to a study ...

Other created Oct 26, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Excessive ICU noise may harm patients

New research shows that overnight noise levels in the medical ICU (MICU) often exceed recommended levels, which could potentially lead to worse outcomes.

Health created Oct 22, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Daily sedation interruption for critically ill patients does not improve outcomes

For critically ill patients receiving mechanical ventilation, daily sedation interruption did not reduce the duration of mechanical ventilation or appear to offer any benefit to patients, and may have increased both sedation ...

Other created Oct 17, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Psychological interventions could reduce mental health problems after intensive care

(Medical Xpress)—A study by UCL researchers at University College Hospital's intensive care unit has suggested that psychological interventions could reduce the mental health problems experienced by many patients.

Psychology & Psychiatry created Oct 17, 2012 | popularity 1 / 5 (1) | comments 0


Delirium or acute confusional state is a common and severe neuropsychiatric syndrome with core features of acute onset and fluctuating course, attentional deficits and generalized severe disorganization of behavior. It typically involves other cognitive deficits, changes in arousal (hyperactive, hypoactive, or mixed), perceptual deficits, altered sleep-wake cycle, and psychotic features such as hallucinations and delusions. It is often caused by a disease process outside the brain, such as infection (urinary tract infection, pneumonia) or drug effects, particularly anticholinergics or other CNS depressants (benzodiazepines and opioids). Although hallucinations and delusions are sometimes present, these are not required for the diagnosis, and the symptoms of delirium are clinically distinct from those induced by psychosis or hallucinogens (with the exception of deliriants.)

Delirium itself is not a disease, but rather a clinical syndrome (a set of symptoms), which result from an underlying disease or new problem with mentation. Like its components (inability to focus attention, mental confusion and various impairments in awareness and temporal and spatial orientation), delirium is simply the common symptomatic manifestation of early brain or mental dysfunction (for any reason). Without careful assessment, delirium can easily be confused with a number of psychiatric disorders because many of the signs and symptoms are conditions present in dementia, depression, and psychosis.

Treatment of delirium requires treatment of the underlying causes. In some cases, temporary or palliative or symptomatic treatments are used to comfort patients or to allow better patient management (for example, a patient who, without understanding, is trying to pull out a ventilation tube that is required for survival). Delirium is probably the single most common acute disorder affecting adults in general hospitals. It affects 10-20% of all hospitalized adults, and 30-40% of elderly hospitalized patients and up to 80% of ICU patients.

This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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