Risk and clinical-outcome indicators of delirium in an emergency department intermediate care unit (EDIMCU): an observational prospective study

BMC Emergency Medicine

Research Article

Jorge Teixeira¹  António Faria¹  Pedro Rodrigues¹  Hugo Afonso²  Nadine Correia Santos³  Nuno Sousa³  José Mariz⁴ 

[1]Emergency Department, Intermediate Care Unit (EDIMCU), Hospital de Braga, Braga, Portugal

[2]Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Health Sciences, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

[3]Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Health Sciences, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

[4]ICVS/3B’s, PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal

[5]Clinical Academic Center – Braga, Braga, Portugal

[6]Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Health Sciences, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

[7]ICVS/3B’s, PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal

[8]Clinical Academic Center – Braga, Braga, Portugal

[9]Emergency Department, Intermediate Care Unit (EDIMCU), Hospital de Braga, Braga, Portugal

关键词: Emergency department;    Intermediate care units;    Short stay units;    High dependency units;    Delirium;    Confusion assessment method;    Length of stay;    Osmolarity;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-227X-13-2

 received in 2012-09-27, accepted in 2013-01-24,  发布年份 2013

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundIdentification of delirium in emergency departments (ED) is often underestimated; within EDs, studies on delirium assessment and relation with patient outcome in Intermediate Care Units (IMCU) appear missing in European hospital settings. Here we aimed to determine delirium prevalence in an EDIMCU (Hospital de Braga, Braga, Portugal) and assessed routine biochemical parameters that might be delirium indicators.MethodsThe study was prospective and observational. Sedation level was assessed via the Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale and delirium status by the Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU. Information collected included age and gender, admission type, Charlson Comorbidity Index combined condition score (Charlson score), systemic inflammatory response syndrome criteria (SIRS), biochemical parameters (blood concentration of urea nitrogen, creatinine, hemoglobin, sodium and potassium, arterial blood gases, and other parameters as needed depending on clinical diagnosis) and EDIMCU length of stay (LOS). Statistical analyses were performed as appropriate to determine if baseline features differed between the ‘Delirium’ and ‘No Delirium’ groups. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to assess the effect of delirium on the 1-month outcome.ResultsInclusion and exclusion criteria were met in 283 patients; 238 were evaluated at 1-month for outcome follow-up after EDIMCU discharge (“good” recovery without complications requiring hospitalization or institutionalization; “poor” institutionalization in permanent care-units/assisted-living or death). Delirium was diagnosed in 20.1% patients and was significantly associated with longer EDIMCU LOS. At admission, Delirium patients were significantly older and had significantly higher blood urea, creatinine and osmolarity levels and significantly lower hemoglobin levels, when compared with No Delirium patients. Delirium was an independent predictor of increased EDIMCU LOS (odds ratio 3.65, 95% CI 1.97-6.75) and poor outcome at 1-month after discharge (odds ratio 3.51, CI 1.84-6.70), adjusted for age, gender, admission type, presence of SIRS criteria, Charlson score and osmolarity at admission.ConclusionsIn an EDIMCU setting, delirium was associated with longer LOS and poor outcome at1-month post-discharge. Altogether, findings support the need for delirium screening and management in emergency settings.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Mariz et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.