Supervisors info:
Γουρνέλλης Ρωσσέτος, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής Ψυχιατρικής, Ιατρική Σχολή, Εθνικό Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Χριστοδούλου Χρήστος, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής Ψυχιατρικής, Ιατρική Σχολή, Εθνικό Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Κουζούπης Αναστάσιος, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής Ψυχιατρικής, Ιατρική Σχολή, Εθνικό Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Summary:
Delirium is characterized by a severe and acute disorder of consciousness and other cognitive functions in an underlying pathological condition. The high frequency of the syndrome in patients hospitalized in the general hospital makes it imperative to further investigate the risk factors.
The aim of the present study is to investigate the clinical and psychometric data of delirium patients during their hospitalization in. "Attikon" University Hospital, as well as assessing the severity of the syndrome in the evaluated groups. At the same time, the ultimate goal of the research is to highlight the risk factors for the occurrence of delirium and the factors that affect the severity of the syndrome among patients.
Ιn the present study, 113 patients with delirium were studied and the following psychometric tools were used: Delirium Rating Scale - Revised 98, (DRS-R-98) and Cumulative Illness Rating Scale (CIRS), Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) and CAGE.
The mean age of the sample was 74.6 years (SD = 15.36) and 51.3% were male. In the total sample, 52.78% were hospitalized in pathology clinics and the average delirium event value from the day of entry for all participants was 4.6 days (SD = 5.8) without significant variation in the individual groups.
There was a comparison of the severity of symptoms at the onset of the syndrome between patients: 1) with an individual psychiatric history (31 patients) and no history (82 patients), and the existence of a psychiatric history did not affect the gravity of the delirium (t= -0,55, p>0,05), 2) between patients hospitalized in pathology (n=60) and surgical clinics (n=53), among which again no differences were found (t= 1,32, p= 0,19), 3) between patients with diagnosed dementia (n = 40) and without (n = 73), where patients with dementia exhibit more serious symptoms of delirium (t=-2,34, p=0,021), 4) between the three age groups in which the sample was separated (adults, young old & old old), where the old old age group was found to show greater gravity of delirium than the second age group (young old) (F=5,69, p=0,004).
The relationship of patients with dementia and without the other scales administered to the sample was investigated and no statistically significant relationship was found between the severity of the symptoms of delirium and 1) CAGE (p>0,05), as well as 2) the severity of the co morbidity (p>0,05).
According to this study, delirium is an urgent and dangerous situation that requires further research to identify risk factors in order to better prevent it. Interdisciplinary collaboration between the various departments of a hospital and the Intercliestric Psychiatry team is proving to be of major importance in the clinical practice.
