Published in:
01-10-2016 | Original Research
Quantifying the Severity of a Delirium Episode Throughout Hospitalization: the Combined Importance of Intensity and Duration
Published in: Journal of General Internal Medicine | Issue 10/2016
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Background
The ability to determine which episodes of delirium are likely to lead to poor clinical outcomes has remained a major area of challenge.
Objective
To quantify delirium severity and course over an entire hospitalization using several measures, and to evaluate their predictive validity for 30- and 90-day outcomes post-discharge.
Design
Two prospective cohort studies.
Participants
Analysis was conducted in two independent cohorts of adult patients aged ≥70.
Main Measures
Nine delirium episode severity measures were examined: (1) measures reflecting delirium intensity (peak Confusion Assessment Method-Severity [CAM-S] and mean CAM-S score), (2) a measure reflecting delirium intensity and duration (sum of all CAM-S scores, sum of all CAM-S scores on delirium days only, peak CAM-S score x days with delirium), (3) measures requiring information on delirium duration and delirium at discharge (total number of delirium days, percentage of delirium days, delirium at discharge), and (4) a measure of cognitive change. Associations of the delirium episode severity measures with 30- and 90-day post-hospital outcomes (death, nursing home placement, and readmission) relevant to delirium were examined.
Key Results
The delirium episode severity measure that required information on both delirium intensity and duration (sum of all CAM-S scores) was the most strongly associated with 30- and 90-day post-hospital outcomes. Using this measure, the relative risk [95 % confidence interval] for death at 30-days increased across levels of sum of all CAM-S scores from 1.0 (referent) to 2.1 [0.8, 5.4] for ‘low,’ to 2.9 [1.2, 7.1] for ‘moderate,’ to 6.4 [2.9, 14.0] for ‘high’ (p for trend <.01).
Conclusions
The delirium episode severity measure that included both intensity and duration had the strongest association with important post-hospital outcomes.