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Annals of Intensive Care
Published in: Annals of Intensive Care 1/2019

Open Access 01-12-2019 | Biomarkers | Review

Serum biomarkers of delirium in the elderly: a narrative review

Authors: Katharina Toft, Janna Tontsch, Salim Abdelhamid, Luzius Steiner, Martin Siegemund, Alexa Hollinger

Published in: Annals of Intensive Care | Issue 1/2019

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Abstract

Delirium after surgery and in the intensive care unit (ICU) remains a challenge for patients, families, and caregivers. Over the years, many promising biomarkers have been investigated as potential instruments for risk stratification of delirium. This review aimed to identify and assess the clinical usefulness of candidate serum biomarkers associated with hospital delirium in patients aged 60 years and older. We performed a time-unlimited review of publications indexed in PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, and MEDLINE databases until June 2019 that evaluated baseline and/or longitudinal biomarker measurements in patients suffering from delirium at some point during their hospital stay. A total of 32 studies were included in this review reporting information on 7610 patients. Of these 32 studies, twenty-four studies reported data from surgical patients including four studies in ICU cohorts, five studies reported data from medical patients (1026 patients), and three studies reported data from a mixed cohort (1086 patients), including one study in an ICU cohort. Findings confirm restricted clinical usefulness to predict or diagnose delirium due to limited evidence on which biomarkers can be used and limited availability due to non-routine use.
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Metadata
Title
Serum biomarkers of delirium in the elderly: a narrative review
Authors
Katharina Toft
Janna Tontsch
Salim Abdelhamid
Luzius Steiner
Martin Siegemund
Alexa Hollinger
Publication date
01-12-2019
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Keyword
Biomarkers
Published in
Annals of Intensive Care / Issue 1/2019
Electronic ISSN: 2110-5820
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13613-019-0548-1

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