Delirium and Right-Hemisphere Dysfunction in Cognitively Impaired Older Persons

Cognitive impairment has been repeatedly shown to be a delirium risk factor. Much indirect evidence suggests that right-hemisphere dysfunction plays a particularly important role. This retrospective, case-controlled study, from a 148-patient memory loss clinic database, compared neuropsychological m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International psychogeriatrics 1996-09, Vol.8 (3), p.373-382
Main Authors: Mach, John R., Kabat, Vivian, Olson, Doug, Kuskowski, Michael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Attention - physiology
Case-Control Studies
Cerebral Cortex - physiopathology
Delirium
Delirium - diagnosis
Delirium - physiopathology
Delirium - psychology
Dementia - diagnosis
Dementia - physiopathology
Dementia - psychology
Depressive Disorder - diagnosis
Depressive Disorder - physiopathology
Depressive Disorder - psychology
Dominance, Cerebral - physiology
Female
Humans
Male
Mental Status Schedule
Mini-Mental State Examination
Neuropsychological Tests
Retrospective Studies
Studies on Dementia
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
Citations: Items that cite this one
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Summary:Cognitive impairment has been repeatedly shown to be a delirium risk factor. Much indirect evidence suggests that right-hemisphere dysfunction plays a particularly important role. This retrospective, case-controlled study, from a 148-patient memory loss clinic database, compared neuropsychological measures of hemispheric function in cognitively impaired elderly veterans with and without a history of delirium. Eleven study subjects had a history compatible with DSM-III-R criteria for delirium. Controls selected from the same database had no known history of delirium and were matched for Mini-Mental State Examination scores and Geriatric Depression Scale scores. Compared to the controls, subjects with a history of delirium had significantly lower scores on Object Assembly and Visual Reproduction (p < .05), tests that are predominantly right-hemisphere dependent. There were no significant differences in left-hemisphere measures. It is concluded that right-hemisphere dysfunction may prove to be an important risk factor for delirium.
ISSN:1041-6102
1741-203X
DOI:10.1017/S1041610296002748