Interventions for preventing delirium in older people in institutional long-term care

The RAPID-score: Risk Assessment and PredIction of Delirium in acute stroke patients based on very early clinical parameters

Background and objective

Post-stroke delirium (PSD) is a common complication in acute stroke patients, and guidelines recommend routine screening and various preventive and treatment measures. However, there is a substantial lack of standardized approaches in diagnostic and therapeutic management of PSD. Here, we aimed to develop a new pragmatic and easily assessable screening tool to predict PSD based on early parameters, which are already integral to acute stroke diagnostics.

Methods

We enrolled acute stroke patients admitted to our stroke unit or intensive care unit and developed the scoring system using retrospective single-center patient data. The Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit was used for prospective score validation. Logistic regression models were employed to analyze the association of early clinical and paraclinical parameters with PSD development.

Results

N = 525 patients (median age: 76 years; 45.7% female) were enrolled, with 29.7% developing PSD during hospitalization. The resulting score comprises 6 items, including medical history, clinical examination findings, and non-contrast computed tomography results at admission. Scores range from -15 to +15 points, with higher values indicating a higher likelihood of PSD, ranging from 4% to 79%. The accuracy was 0.85, and the area under the curve was 0.89.

Conclusion

The new RAPID (Risk Assessment and PredIction of Delirium in acute stroke patients)-score shows high accuracy in predicting PSD among acute stroke patients and offers precise odds of PSD for each corresponding score value, utilizing routine early clinical and paraclinical parameters. It can identify high-risk populations for clinical study interventions and may be suitable to guide prophylactic PSD measures.

The PREvention Program for Alzheimer's RElated Delirium (PREPARED) cluster randomized trial: a study protocol

BACKGROUND

Delirium is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality among older people admitted to both acute and long-term care facilities (LTCFs). Multicomponent interventions have been shown to reduce delirium incidence in the acute care setting (30-73%) by acting on modifiable risk factors. Little work, however, has focused on using this approach to reduce delirium incidence in LTCFs.

METHODS

The objective is to assess the effectiveness of the multicomponent PREPARED Trial intervention in reducing the following primary outcomes: incidence, severity, duration, and frequency of delirium episodes in cognitively impaired residents. This 4-year, parallel-design, cluster randomized study will involve nursing staff and residents in 45-50 LTCFs in Montreal, Canada. Participating public and private LTCFs (clusters) that provide 24-h nursing care will be assigned to either the PREPARED Trial intervention or the control (usual care) arm of the study using a covariate constrained randomization procedure. Approximately 400-600 LTC residents aged 65 and older with dementia and/or cognitive impairment will be enrolled in the study and followed for 18 weeks. Residents must be at risk of delirium, delirium-free at baseline and have resided at the facility for at least 2 weeks. Residents who are unable to communicate verbally, have a history of specific psychiatric conditions, or are receiving end-of-life care will be excluded. The PREPARED Trial intervention consists of four main components: a decision tree, an instruction manual, a training package, and a toolkit. Primary study outcomes will be assessed weekly. Functional autonomy and cognitive levels will be assessed at the beginning and end of follow-up, while information pertaining to modifiable delirium risk factors, medical consultations, and facility transfers will be collected retrospectively for the duration of the follow-up period. Primary outcomes will be reported at the level of intervention assignment. All researchers analyzing the data will be blinded to group allocation.

DISCUSSION

This large-scale intervention study will contribute significantly to the development of evidence-based clinical guidelines for delirium prevention in this frail elderly population, as it will be the first to evaluate the efficacy of a multicomponent delirium prevention program translated into LTC clinical practice on a large scale.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

NCT03718156 , ClinicalTrials.gov .

Delirium risk of histamine-2 receptor antagonists and proton pump inhibitors: A study based on the adverse drug event reporting database in Japan

OBJECTIVE

Although histamine-2 receptor antagonists (H2RAs) have been shown to be more likely to cause delirium than proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), these results were not adjusted for potential confounding factors. Accordingly, we investigated whether H2RAs and PPIs are risk factors for delirium, even when adjusting for other risk factors by analyzing adverse drug event reports compiled in the post-marketing stages of drugs provided by the Japanese regulatory authorities.

METHOD

We analyzed 577,431 reports in the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report database from April 2004 to July 2020.

RESULTS

Of all reports analyzed, 2532 described delirium, and 574,899 described other adverse events. Delirium was associated with H2RAs (crude reporting odds ratio, ROR, 4.17; 95% CI, 3.34-5.22) but not PPIs (crude ROR 0.62; 95% CI 0.43-0.90). Even with adjustment for age, sex, history of dementia or depression, and concomitant drugs reported as risk factors for delirium, the use of H2RAs showed a significantly higher adjusted ROR than that of PPIs (H2RAs: adjusted ROR 3.99; 95% CI 3.18-5.01 and PPIs: adjusted ROR 0.58; 95%CI 0.40-0.84).

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that, from a cognitive perspective, PPIs may be preferable to H2RAs for patients with or at risk for delirium.

Health, social care and technological interventions to improve functional ability of older adults living at home: An evidence and gap map

Background

By 2030, the global population of people older than 60 years is expected to be higher than the number of children under 10 years, resulting in major health and social care system implications worldwide. Without a supportive environment, whether social or built, diminished functional ability may arise in older people. Functional ability comprises an individual's intrinsic capacity and people's interaction with their environment enabling them to be and do what they value.

Objectives

This evidence and gap map aims to identify primary studies and systematic reviews of health and social support services as well as assistive devices designed to support functional ability among older adults living at home or in other places of residence.

Search Methods

We systematically searched from inception to August 2018 in: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, CENTRAL, CINAHL, PsycINFO, AgeLine, Campbell Library, ASSIA, Social Science Citation Index and Social Policy & Practice. We conducted a focused search for grey literature and protocols of studies (e.g., ProQuest Theses and Dissertation Global, conference abstract databases, Help Age, PROSPERO, Cochrane and Campbell libraries and ClinicalTrials.gov).

Selection Criteria

Screening and data extraction were performed independently in duplicate according to our intervention and outcome framework. We included completed and on-going systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials of effectiveness on health and social support services provided at home, assistive products and technology for personal indoor and outdoor mobility and transportation as well as design, construction and building products and technology of buildings for private use such as wheelchairs, and ramps.

Data Collection and Analysis

We coded interventions and outcomes, and the number of studies that assessed health inequities across equity factors. We mapped outcomes based on the International Classification of Function, Disability and Health (ICF) adapted categories: intrinsic capacities (body function and structures) and functional abilities (activities). We assessed methodological quality of systematic reviews using the AMSTAR II checklist.

Main Results

After de-duplication, 10,783 records were screened. The map includes 548 studies (120 systematic reviews and 428 randomized controlled trials). Interventions and outcomes were classified using domains from the International Classification of Function, Disability and Health (ICF) framework. Most systematic reviews (n = 71, 59%) were rated low or critically low for methodological quality.The most common interventions were home-based rehabilitation for older adults (n = 276) and home-based health services for disease prevention (n = 233), mostly delivered by visiting healthcare professionals (n = 474). There was a relative paucity of studies on personal mobility, building adaptations, family support, personal support and befriending or friendly visits. The most measured intrinsic capacity domains were mental function (n = 269) and neuromusculoskeletal function (n = 164). The most measured outcomes for functional ability were basic needs (n = 277) and mobility (n = 160). There were few studies which evaluated outcome domains of social participation, financial security, ability to maintain relationships and communication.There was a lack of studies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and a gap in the assessment of health equity issues.

Authors' Conclusions

There is substantial evidence for interventions to promote functional ability in older adults at home including mostly home-based rehabilitation for older adults and home-based health services for disease prevention. Remotely delivered home-based services are of greater importance to policy-makers and practitioners in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This map of studies published prior to the pandemic provides an initial resource to identify relevant home-based services which may be of interest for policy-makers and practitioners, such as home-based rehabilitation and social support, although these interventions would likely require further adaptation for online delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a need to strengthen assessment of social support and mobility interventions and outcomes related to making decisions, building relationships, financial security, and communication in future studies. More studies are needed to assess LMIC contexts and health equity issues.

The Effect of Patient-controlled Intravenous Analgesia (PCIA) on Postoperative Delirium in Patients with Liver Transplantation: a Propensity Score Matching Analysis

Objectives Postoperative opioid use and pain are related to postoperative delirium. This study aims to compare the incidence of delirium in patients with and without patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) among liver transplant recipients. Methods The medical records of 253 patients who received liver transplantation (LT) from January 2010 to July 2017 in a single university hospital were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were divided into two groups: the patients who had used PCIA (P group, n = 71) and those who did not use PCIA (C group, n = 182) after LT in intensive care unit (ICU). The patient data were collected, which included demographic data, and details about perioperative management and postoperative complications. Results There was no difference in the model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score between the two groups. Postoperative delirium occurred in 10 / 71 (14.08 %) in the P group and 26 / 182 (14.29 %) in the C group after LT, respectively (P = 0.97). After propensity score matching, no differences were observed in the incidence of delirium (P = 0.359) and the time from surgery to discharge (P = 0.26) between the two groups. Conclusions Patients with PCIA after LT exhibited no relationship with postoperative delirium. Therefore, it is necessary to actively control postoperative pain using PCIA.

Preoperative Risk Assessment for Delirium After Hepatic Resection in the Elderly: a Prospective Multicenter Study

BACKGROUND

Hepatic resection often results in delirium in preoperatively self-sufficient elderly people. The association of frailty with postoperative delirium remains unclear, and preoperative risk assessment, including frailty, of postoperative delirium has not been established.

METHODS

This prospective multicenter study included 295 independently living patients aged ≥ 65 years scheduled for initial hepatic resection. All patients answered the phenotypic frailty index Kihon Checklist, which is a self-reporting list of 25 questions, within a week before surgery. The risk factors for postoperative delirium were investigated. Patients who scored ≥ 4 in the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist were designated as having postoperative delirium.

RESULTS

Delirium developed after liver resection in 22 of 295 patients (7.5%). Total Kihon Checklist score (≥ 6 points), age (≥ 75 years), and serum albumin concentration (≤ 3.7 g/dL) were the independent risk factors for postoperative delirium. The proportion of patients with postoperative delirium was 0% in those with no applicable risk factors, 3.2% in those with one applicable risk factor, 12.0% in those with two applicable risk factors, and 40.9% in those with all three factors (p < 0.001). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for this risk assessment for predicting postoperative delirium was 0.842.

CONCLUSION

The use of these three factors for preoperative risk assessment may be effective in predicting and preparing for delirium after hepatic resection in elderly patients.

Development and Evaluation of Clinical Practice Guideline for Delirium in Long-Term Care

Delirium is highly prevalent and leads to several bad outcomes for older long-term care (LTC) residents. For a more successful translation of delirium knowledge, Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) tailored to LTC should be developed and applied based on the understanding of the barriers to implementation. This study was conducted to develop a CPG for delirium in LTC and to determine the barriers perceived by healthcare professionals related to the implementation of the CPG. We followed a structured, evidence- and theory-based procedure during the development process. After a systematic search, quality appraisal, and selection for eligible up-to-date CPGs for delirium, the recommendations applicable to the LTC were drafted, evaluated, and confirmed by an external group of experts. To evaluate the barriers to guideline uptake from the users' perspectives, semi-structured interviews were conducted which resulted in four major themes: (1) a lack of resources, (2) a tendency to follow mindlines rather than guidelines, (3) passive attitudes, and (4) misunderstanding delirium care in LTC. To minimize adverse prognoses through prompt delirium care, the implementation of a CPG with an approach that comprehensively considers various barriers at the system, practice, healthcare professional, and patients/family levels is necessary.

An Algorithm for Comprehensive Medication Management in Nursing Homes: Results of the AMBER Project

INTRODUCTION

There are several barriers to conducting medication management in nursing homes. Our project aimed to develop an algorithm that guides and supports pharmacists to perform this clinical service.

METHODS

Phase I of the project examined the practitioner and patient perspectives on the medication process in nursing homes. The mixed methods approach consisted of interviews with qualitative content analysis and a quantitative questionnaire. Phase IIa scoped existing research and comprised a three-stepped systematic review. It was registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (CRD42017065002). Results of the first two steps were assessed for quality. Phase IIb was performed as a Delphi survey. The developed algorithm was tested in nursing homes. The primary endpoint was the number and type of detected drug-related problems. The study was conducted between June 2016 and December 2018 (Deutsches-Register-Klinischer-Studien-ID: DRKS00010995).

RESULTS

Interviews were held with 21 healthcare practitioners and six patients. Frequent and relevant aspects of the medication process in nursing homes were identified. The systematic reviews included 28 reviews, 12 interventional studies and 1450 non-interventional studies. As a result of the Delphi survey, two new aspects were added. Testing of the drafted algorithm was done in 73 nursing home residents. A mean of 6.3 drug-related problems were detected. Sample cases were executed in a mean time of 21 min by community pharmacists.

CONCLUSIONS

The developed and consented algorithm can guide pharmacists in conducting medication management in a timely and effective manner. It might serve as a facilitator to improve collaboration and quality of medication in nursing home residents.

[Mortality of gerontopsychiatric inpatients in Graz, Austria-a retrospective case-control study]

BACKGROUND

Despite the demographic development and the increasing number of psychiatric diseases in older people, there are only few scientific investigations on the characteristics of patients in gerontopsychiatry and their mortality. In this retrospective case control study patient data were examined in order to establish which features of patients who died in a department of gerontopsychiatry show differences to those of patients who were discharged.

METHOD

A total of 284 patient files from the department of gerontopsychiatry and geriatric psychotherapy of the State Hospital Graz II were evaluated. Between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2017, a total of 51 women and 91 men died (= cases) in hospital. These patients were compared with 142 sex-matched patients (control group) who were discharged during the same period of time. The evaluation was carried out using logistic regression models.

RESULTS

Patients who died on the geriatric psychiatry ward were clearly older and were in a clearly poorer physical state of health than the discharged patients. The deceased patients had a 2.7-fold higher chance of an ischemic cardiac disease as well as a 2.5-fold and 3.5-fold higher chance of being referred from a nursing home or hospital, respectively. They also had a threefold higher chance for a lower functional status, a fourfold increased chance of higher C‑reactive protein (CRP) values and a diagnosis of delirium compared to discharged patients.

CONCLUSION

The deceased patients had a substantially poorer state of health and tended to suffer more from delirium compared to the discharged patients. Structural health policy precautions must be undertaken so that unnecessary transfers to gerontopsychiatry departments do not become necessary.

Medication Use and Risk of Delirium in Mechanically Ventilated Patients

One of the principal complications in patients in the intensive care unit, particularly in those receiving mechanical ventilation, is medication-induced delirium. The present study aimed to intensively analyze pharmaceutical factors affecting the development of delirium in mechanically ventilated patients using the electronic health records. The present study was designed as a retrospective case-control study. The delirium group included 500 mechanically ventilated patients. The non-delirium group included 2,000 patients who were hospitalized during the same period as the delirium group and received mechanical ventilation. A total of seven types of medications (narcotic analgesics, non-narcotic analgesics, psychopharmaceuticals, sleep aid medications, anticholinergics, steroids, and diuretics), conventionally used to manage mechanical ventilation, were found to be major risk factors associated with the occurrence of delirium. Since these medications are an integral part of managing mechanically ventilated patients, prudent protocol-based medication approaches are essential to decrease the risk of delirium.

Interventions for preventing delirium in older people in institutional long-term care

BACKGROUND

Delirium is a common and distressing mental disorder. It is often caused by a combination of stressor events in susceptible people, particularly older people living with frailty and dementia. Adults living in institutional long-term care (LTC) are at particularly high risk of delirium. An episode of delirium increases risks of admission to hospital, development or worsening of dementia and death. Multicomponent interventions can reduce the incidence of delirium by a third in the hospital setting. However, it is currently unclear whether interventions to prevent delirium in LTC are effective. This is an update of a Cochrane Review first published in 2014.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the effectiveness of interventions for preventing delirium in older people in institutional long-term care settings.

SEARCH METHODS

We searched ALOIS (www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/alois), the Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group (CDCIG) 's Specialised Register of dementia trials (dementia.cochrane.org/our-trials-register), to 27 February 2019. The search was sufficiently sensitive to identify all studies relating to delirium. We ran additional separate searches in the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), major healthcare databases, trial registers and grey literature sources to ensure that the search was comprehensive.

SELECTION CRITERIA

We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and cluster-randomised controlled trials (cluster-RCTs) of single and multicomponent, non-pharmacological and pharmacological interventions for preventing delirium in older people (aged 65 years and over) in permanent LTC residence.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

We used standard methodological procedures expected by Cochrane. Primary outcomes were prevalence, incidence and severity of delirium; and mortality. Secondary outcomes included falls, hospital admissions and other adverse events; cognitive function; new diagnoses of dementia; activities of daily living; quality of life; and cost-related outcomes. We used risk ratios (RRs) as measures of treatment effect for dichotomous outcomes, hazard ratios (HR) for time-to-event outcomes and mean difference (MD) for continuous outcomes. For each outcome, we assessed the overall certainty of the evidence using GRADE methods.

MAIN RESULTS

We included three trials with 3851 participants. All three were cluster-RCTs. Two of the trials were of complex, single-component, non-pharmacological interventions and one trial was a feasibility trial of a complex, multicomponent, non-pharmacological intervention. Risk of bias ratings were mixed across the three trials. Due to the heterogeneous nature of the interventions, we did not combine the results statistically, but produced a narrative summary.It was not possible to determine the effect of a hydration-based intervention on delirium incidence (RR 0.85, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.18 to 4.00; 1 study, 98 participants; very low-certainty evidence downgraded for risk of bias and very serious imprecision). This study did not assess delirium prevalence, severity or mortality.The introduction of a computerised system to identify medications that may contribute to delirium risk and trigger a medication review was probably associated with a reduction in delirium incidence (12-month HR 0.42, CI 0.34 to 0.51; 1 study, 7311 participant-months; moderate-certainty evidence downgraded for risk of bias) but probably had little or no effect on mortality (HR 0.88, CI 0.66 to 1.17; 1 study, 9412 participant-months; moderate-certainty evidence downgraded for imprecision), hospital admissions (HR 0.89, CI 0.72 to 1.10; 1 study, 7599 participant-months; moderate-certainty evidence downgraded for imprecision) or falls (HR 1.03, CI 0.92 to 1.15; 1 study, 2275 participant-months; low-certainty evidence downgraded for imprecision and risk of bias). Delirium prevalence and severity were not assessed.In the enhanced educational intervention study, aimed at changing practice to address key delirium risk factors, it was not possible to determine the effect of the intervention on delirium incidence (RR 0.62, 95% CI 0.16 to 2.39; 1 study, 137 resident months; very low-certainty evidence downgraded for risk of bias and serious imprecision) or delirium prevalence (RR 0.57, 95% CI 0.15 to 2.19; 1 study, 160 participants; very low-certainty evidence downgraded for risk of bias and serious imprecision). There was probably little or no effect on mortality (RR 0.82, CI 0.50 to 1.34; 1 study, 215 participants; moderate-certainty evidence downgraded for imprecision). The intervention was probably associated with a reduction in hospital admissions (RR 0.67, CI 0.57 to 0.79; 1 study, 494 participants; moderate-certainty evidence downgraded due to indirectness).

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

Our review identified limited evidence on interventions for preventing delirium in older people in LTC. A software-based intervention to identify medications that could contribute to delirium risk and trigger a pharmacist-led medication review, probably reduces incidence of delirium in older people in institutional LTC. This is based on one large RCT in the US and may not be practical in other countries or settings which do not have comparable information technology services available in care homes. In the educational intervention aimed at identifying risk factors for delirium and developing bespoke solutions within care homes, it was not possible to determine the effect of the intervention on delirium incidence, prevalence or mortality. This evidence is based on a small feasibility trial. Our review identified three ongoing trials of multicomponent delirium prevention interventions. We identified no trials of pharmacological agents. Future trials of multicomponent non-pharmacological delirium prevention interventions for older people in LTC are needed to help inform the provision of evidence-based care for this vulnerable group.

The Motoric Types of Delirium and Estimated Blood Loss during Perioperative Period in Orthopedic Elderly Patients

Background

Delirium is a common and serious syndrome in elderly patients. The hypoactive type of delirium is known to have different characteristics, but further studies are needed to define the specificities of these characteristics. Our study aims at finding specific risk factors, especially estimated blood loss during operations of hyper- and hypoactive delirium in orthopedic elderly patients.

Methods

One hundred and seventy-five elderly patients were evaluated using the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) and the 4^th edition text revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR). Trained psychiatrists interviewed the subjects directly at pre- and postoperative time points. We reviewed medical records after the patients were discharged.

Results

Thirty-nine patients (22.3%) were diagnosed with multiple types of delirium, which included 17 hyperactive types (65.9%), 13 hypoactive types (33.3%), and 9 mixed types (23.1%). Although the mean estimated blood loss in patients with either hyper- or hypoactive symptoms was larger than in patients lacking these symptoms, the odds ratio was only significant in patients with hyperactive symptoms. In addition, age, preoperative daily function, and preoperative hyponatremia were found to be risk factors for hyperactive but not hypoactive symptoms.

Conclusion

Patients with hypoactive symptoms had different risk factors than patients with hyperactive symptoms of delirium. The estimated blood loss, well-known risk factors for delirium, might be risk factors for only hyperactive delirium. The acute precipitating factors seemed to show stronger correlation with the hyperactive type of delirium than with the hypoactive type.

Controlled pre-post, mixed-methods study to determine the effectiveness of a national delirium clinical care standard to improve the diagnosis and care of patients with delirium in Australian hospitals: a protocol

INTRODUCTION

Delirium, an acute confusional state, affects up to 29% of acute inpatients aged 65 years and over. The Australian Delirium Clinical Care Standard (the Standard) contains evidence-based, multicomponent interventions, to identify and reduce delirium. This study aims to: (1) conduct a controlled, before-and-after study to assess the clinical effectiveness of the Standard to improve diagnosis and treatment of delirium; (2) conduct a cost-effectiveness study of implementing the Standard and (3) evaluate the implementation process.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

The study will use a controlled, preimplementation and postimplementation mixed-methods study design, including: medical record reviews, activity-based costing analysis and interviews with staff, patients and their family members. The study population will comprise patients 65 years and over, admitted to surgical, medical and intensive care wards in four intervention hospitals and one control hospital. The primary clinical outcome will be the incidence of delirium. Secondary outcomes include: length of stay, severity and duration of delirium, inhospital mortality rates, readmission rates and use of psychotropic drugs. Cost-effectiveness will be evaluated through activity-based costing analysis and outcome data, and the implementation process appraised through the qualitative results.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

Ethics approval has been received for two hospitals. Additional hospitals have been identified and ethics applications will be submitted once the tools in the pilot study have been tested.The results will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals and presented to national and international conferences. Results seminars will provide a quality feedback mechanism for staff and health policy bodies.

Delirium in Older Persons: Advances in Diagnosis and Treatment

Importance

Delirium is defined as an acute disorder of attention and cognition. It is a common, serious, and often fatal condition among older patients. Although often underrecognized, delirium has serious adverse effects on the individual's function and quality of life, as well as broad societal effects with substantial health care costs.

Objective

To summarize the current state of the art in diagnosis and treatment of delirium and to highlight critical areas for future research to advance the field.

Evidence Review

Search of Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Library for the past 6 years, from January 1, 2011, until March 16, 2017, using a combination of controlled vocabulary and keyword terms. Since delirium is more prevalent in older adults, the focus was on studies in elderly populations; studies based solely in the intensive care unit (ICU) and non-English-language articles were excluded.

Findings

Of 127 articles included, 25 were clinical trials, 42 cohort studies, 5 systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and 55 were other categories. A total of 11 616 patients were represented in the treatment studies. Advances in diagnosis have included the development of brief screening tools with high sensitivity and specificity, such as the 3-Minute Diagnostic Assessment; 4 A's Test; and proxy-based measures such as the Family Confusion Assessment Method. Measures of severity, such as the Confusion Assessment Method-Severity Score, can aid in monitoring response to treatment, risk stratification, and assessing prognosis. Nonpharmacologic approaches focused on risk factors such as immobility, functional decline, visual or hearing impairment, dehydration, and sleep deprivation are effective for delirium prevention and also are recommended for delirium treatment. Current recommendations for pharmacologic treatment of delirium, based on recent reviews of the evidence, recommend reserving use of antipsychotics and other sedating medications for treatment of severe agitation that poses risk to patient or staff safety or threatens interruption of essential medical therapies.

Conclusions and Relevance

Advances in diagnosis can improve recognition and risk stratification of delirium. Prevention of delirium using nonpharmacologic approaches is documented to be effective, while pharmacologic prevention and treatment of delirium remains controversial.

The Comparative Risk of Delirium with Different Opioids: A Systematic Review

Objective

There is substantial evidence that the use of opioids increases the risk of adverse outcomes such as delirium, but whether this risk differs between the various opioids remains controversial. In this systematic review, we evaluate and discuss possible differences in the risk of delirium from the use of various types of opioids in older patients.

Methods

We performed a search in MEDLINE by combining search terms on delirium and opioids. A specific search filter for use in geriatric medicine was used. Quality was scored according to the quality assessment for cohort studies of the Dutch Cochrane Institute.

Results

Six studies were included, all performed in surgical departments and all observational. No study was rated high quality, one was rated moderate quality, and five were rated low quality. Information about dose, route, and timing of administration of the opioid was frequently missing. Pain and other important risk factors of delirium were often not taken into account. Use of tramadol or meperidine was associated with an increased risk of delirium, whereas the use of morphine, fentanyl, oxycodone, and codeine were not, when compared with no opioid. Meperidine was also associated with an increased risk of delirium compared with other opioids, whereas tramadol was not. The risk of delirium appeared to be lower with hydromorphone or fentanyl, compared with other opioids. Numbers used for comparisons were small.

Conclusion

Some data suggest that meperidine may lead to a higher perioperative risk for delirium; however, high-quality studies that compare different opioids are lacking. Further comparative research is needed.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s40266-017-0455-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Psychiatry and the geriatric syndromes - creating constructive interfaces

Integrating mental and physical healthcare is difficult to achieve because of professional and organisational barriers. Psychiatrists recognise the problems resulting from fragmentation of services and want continuity of care for patients, but commissioning and service structures perpetuate these problems. One way forward may be to follow the syndromic model employed by geriatricians as a means of avoiding over-emphasis on diagnosis above the pragmatics of implementing multi-component, coordinated care. Commissioners need to be made aware of the overlap and complementarity of skills possessed by old age psychiatry and geriatric medicine to create joint services for people vulnerable to dementia and delirium. A re-forged alliance between the two specialties will be necessary to turn integrated care for frail, elderly people from rhetoric into reality.

Risk Factors for Delirium During Acute and Subacute Stages of Various Disorders in Patients Admitted to Rehabilitation Units

OBJECTIVE

To assess the risk factors for delirium in patients admitted to a rehabilitation unit for acute or subacute neurological or musculoskeletal disorders.

METHODS

We reviewed the medical records of 537 patients admitted to a rehabilitation unit and selected 398 patients in the acute or subacute stage of various neurological or musculoskeletal disorders. Among them, patients who had suffered from delirium were categorized into the delirium group (n=65), and the other patients were categorized into the non-delirium group (n=333). As potential risk factors for delirium, the patients' diagnosis, underlying disease, demographic data, hospital stay duration, surgery, and laboratory findings were reviewed, and the differences between the two groups with respect to independent risk factors were analyzed.

RESULTS

The average age in the delirium group was higher; the hospital stay and pre-transfer periods were longer. A large proportion of the patients were admitted for musculoskeletal disorders, and many patients had diabetes mellitus, dementia, and depression as underlying diseases. Laboratory tests revealed increases in the white blood cells (WBC), glucose, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), total bilirubin, aspartate transaminase (AST), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in the delirium group, while the hemoglobin, calcium, phosphorus, protein, albumin, and potassium levels were decreased. Depression, musculoskeletal disorders, traumatic brain injury, elevated WBC, BUN, AST, and CRP levels, and decreased potassium and phosphorus levels were identified as independent risk factors for delirium.

CONCLUSION

Risk factors treatable before delirium onset were identified in rehabilitation patients in acute and subacute stages of various disorders. Early diagnosis and prevention of these risk factors could decrease delirium occurrence and increase rehabilitation effectiveness.

Preliminary Data: An Adapted Hospital Elder Life Program to Prevent Delirium and Reduce Complications of Acute Illness in Long-Term Care Delivered by Certified Nursing Assistants

Nursing home (NH) residents have a high prevalence of delirium risk factors, experience two to four acute medical conditions (e.g., infections) each year, and have an incidence of delirium during these conditions similar to that of hospitalized older adults. Many NH residents with delirium do not return to their prior level of cognitive function. They are more likely to die, be hospitalized, and less likely to be discharged home than those without delirium. Research on the prevention or treatment of delirium in NHs is limited. This article describes the development and pilot testing of a multicomponent delirium prevention intervention in the NH setting adapted from the Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP-LTC). Activities to reduce the risk of delirium that were appropriate for functionally impaired NH residents were developed and delivered during treatment for and recovery from acute illness, a novel resident-targeting approach. Expertly trained certified nursing assistants (CNAs - a total of 1.4 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions-) visited residents throughout the facility and delivered the activities. The current study reports on incident delirium, delirium remission, cognitive and physical function change, hospitalization, and death associated with acute medical conditions as ascertained by a program coordinator. The integration and acceptance of the CNAs' activities by residents and staff are also reported on. Hospitalization and death were ascertained in a nonintervention comparison group. Findings support a test of the intervention in a controlled trial. The potential effect is great; there are approximately 1.4 million NH residents in the United States and an estimated 1 million with dementia or cognitive impairment, an important delirium risk factor. An intervention would be broadly adoptable if a reduction in healthcare costs through prevention of hospitalization offset the cost of the program's CNAs.

Delirium in the geriatric unit: proton-pump inhibitors and other risk factors

Background

Delirium remains a major nosocomial complication of hospitalized elderly. Predictive models for delirium may be useful for identification of high-risk patients for implementation of preventive strategies.

Objective

Evaluate specific factors for development of delirium in a geriatric ward setting.

Methods

Prospective cross-sectional study comprised 675 consecutive patients aged 79.2±7.7 years (66% women and 34% men), admitted to the subacute geriatric ward of a multiprofile university hospital after exclusion of 113 patients treated with antipsychotic medication because of behavioral disorders before admission. Comprehensive geriatric assessments including a structured interview, physical examination, geriatric functional assessment, blood sampling, ECG, abdominal ultrasound, chest X-ray, Confusion Assessment Method for diagnosis of delirium, Delirium-O-Meter to assess delirium severity, Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale to assess sedation or agitation, visual analog scale and Doloplus-2 scale to assess pain level were performed.

Results

Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed five independent factors associated with development of delirium in geriatric inpatients: transfer between hospital wards (odds ratio [OR] =2.78; confidence interval [CI] =1.54–5.01; P=0.001), preexisting dementia (OR =2.29; CI =1.44–3.65; P<0.001), previous delirium incidents (OR =2.23; CI =1.47–3.38; P<0.001), previous fall incidents (OR =1.76; CI =1.17–2.64; P=0.006), and use of proton-pump inhibitors (OR =1.67; CI =1.11–2.53; P=0.014).

Conclusion

Transfer between hospital wards, preexisting dementia, previous delirium incidents, previous fall incidents, and use of proton-pump inhibitors are predictive of development of delirium in the geriatric inpatient setting.

[Delirium Prevention]

INTRODUCTION

Delirium is the most prevalent neuropsychiatric syndrome in the general hospital. Its presence is a marker of poor prognosis for patients. Its prevention could be the most effective strategy for reducing its frequency and its complications.

OBJECTIVE

To review recent findings and strategies for the prevention of delirium.

METHODOLOGY

A non-systematic review of scientific articles published in the last ten years in Spanish and English. A search was made in databases such as MEDLINE, Cochrane, EMBASE, Ovid, and ScienceDirect, for articles that included the terms, delirium and prevention.

RESULTS

Identification of predisposing and precipitating factors for delirium and a better understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the onset of delirium have enabled the implementation of various pharmacological and non-pharmacological strategies in patients at high risk to develop hospital delirium. The studies to prevent delirium have focused on surgical patients. The current evidence supports the daily implementation of non-pharmacological measures to prevent delirium, as they are easy and cost effective. The available evidence is still limited to recommend the daily use of pharmacological strategies in delirium prophylaxis, and there is a consensus against the modest use of antipsychotic drugs in surgical patients and dexmedetomidine in patients in intensive care.

CONCLUSIONS

New high-quality clinical trials and studies involving non-surgical patients are needed to provide more evidence about this subject.

Efficacy of Non-Pharmacological Interventions to Prevent and Treat Delirium in Older Patients: A Systematic Overview. The SENATOR project ONTOP Series

Background

Non-pharmacological intervention (e.g. multidisciplinary interventions, music therapy, bright light therapy, educational interventions etc.) are alternative interventions that can be used in older subjects. There are plenty reviews of non-pharmacological interventions for the prevention and treatment of delirium in older patients and clinicians need a synthesized, methodologically sound document for their decision making.

Methods and Findings

We performed a systematic overview of systematic reviews (SRs) of comparative studies concerning non-pharmacological intervention to treat or prevent delirium in older patients. The PubMed, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, EMBASE, CINHAL, and PsychINFO (April 28th, 2014) were searched for relevant articles. AMSTAR was used to assess the quality of the SRs. The GRADE approach was used to assess the quality of primary studies. The elements of the multicomponent interventions were identified and compared among different studies to explore the possibility of performing a meta-analysis. Risk ratios were estimated using a random-effects model. Twenty-four SRs with 31 primary studies satisfied the inclusion criteria. Based on the AMSTAR criteria twelve reviews resulted of moderate quality and three resulted of high quality. Overall, multicomponent non-pharmacological interventions significantly reduced the incidence of delirium in surgical wards [2 randomized trials (RCTs): relative risk (RR) 0.71, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.59 to 0.86, I²=0%; (GRADE evidence: moderate)] and in medical wards [2 CCTs: RR 0.65, 95%CI 0.49 to 0.86, I²=0%; (GRADE evidence: moderate)]. There is no evidence supporting the efficacy of non-pharmacological interventions to prevent delirium in low risk populations (i.e. low rate of delirium in the control group)[1 RCT: RR 1.75, 95%CI 0.50 to 6.10 (GRADE evidence: very low)]. For patients who have developed delirium, the available evidence does not support the efficacy of multicomponent non-pharmacological interventions to treat delirium. Among single component interventions only staff education, reorientation protocol (GRADE evidence: very low)] and Geriatric Risk Assessment MedGuide software [hazard ratio 0.42, 95%CI 0.35 to 0.52, (GRADE evidence: moderate)] resulted effective in preventing delirium.

Conclusions

In older patients multi-component non-pharmacological interventions as well as some single-components intervention were effective in preventing delirium but not to treat delirium.

Delirium diagnosis, screening and management

Purpose of review

Our review focuses on recent developments across many settings regarding the diagnosis, screening and management of delirium, so as to inform these aspects in the context of palliative and supportive care.

Recent findings

Delirium diagnostic criteria have been updated in the long-awaited Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition. Studies suggest that poor recognition of delirium relates to its clinical characteristics, inadequate interprofessional communication and lack of systematic screening. Validation studies are published for cognitive and observational tools to screen for delirium. Formal guidelines for delirium screening and management have been rigorously developed for intensive care, and may serve as a model for other settings. Given that palliative sedation is often required for the management of refractory delirium at the end of life, a version of the Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale, modified for palliative care, has undergone preliminary validation.

Summary

Although formal systematic delirium screening with brief but sensitive tools is strongly advocated for patients in palliative and supportive care, it requires critical evaluation in terms of clinical outcomes, including patient comfort. Randomized controlled trials are needed to inform the development of guidelines for the management of delirium in this setting.

Finding and using best evidence for rehabilitation

With the demands for improved experiences of care, improved outcomes, and greater efficiency/lower costs, the need for an evidence-based approach to care in rehabilitation settings has never been more urgent. This article guides practitioners in how to find the best available evidence for rehabilitation settings. It then discusses the use of evidence from systematic reviews through a high-impact case study: delirium in patients with postoperative hip fracture.

Prevention of post-operative delirium in older patients with cancer undergoing surgery

Prevention has been shown to be the most effective strategy for minimizing the occurrence of delirium as well as delirium-associated complications.(5) Therefore prevention of delirium in older adults undergoing surgery is a top research priority given the extent of the problem in this patient population. In this review, we will describe the POD syndrome, previously identified risk factors that predict POD in surgical cancer patients, long-term outcomes of POD and both non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic therapies aimed at preventing POD.