Studying delirium

Delirium represents a change in cognition or the development of a perceptual disturbance that is not better accounted for by a pre-existing, established or evolving dementia.(2) However, given that between 60% and 70% of the patients in both the intervention and usual care groups had suspected demen...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian Medical Association journal (CMAJ) 2003-03, Vol.168 (5), p.541; author reply 541-541; author reply 542
Main Authors: Anderson, Stephen D, Hewko, Robert A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Antipsychotic Agents - therapeutic use
Cole, Martin G
Delirium
Delirium - classification
Delirium - drug therapy
Delirium - etiology
Dementia - complications
Humans
Letters
Patient Compliance
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Summary:Delirium represents a change in cognition or the development of a perceptual disturbance that is not better accounted for by a pre-existing, established or evolving dementia.(2) However, given that between 60% and 70% of the patients in both the intervention and usual care groups had suspected dementia, it is difficult to interpret the results of the study. It is also unclear why improvement was measured in terms of Mini-Mental Status Exam (MMSE) scores. The MMSE was not developed as a means of rating delirium; a more appropriate scale for this purpose would be the Delirium Rating Scale.(3) The authors indicated that the rates of compliance with the recommendations of a geriatric specialist were "relatively high," but Rockwood,(4) commenting on this study in the same issue of CMAJ, noted that "27% of recommendations on medication and 31% of recommendations on investigations were not followed."
ISSN:0820-3946
1488-2329