Introduction:

delirium is a neurobehavioral disorder with varying frequency in hospitalized patients, being it associated to higher morbimortality.

Objectives:

to identify hospitalized patients who developed delirium in the medical-surgical areas of a general hospital.

Method:

a descriptive, observational, transversal study was conducted using the CAM-ICU (Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit) test, which was validated to be used in Spanish and in non-critical patients. 160 patients were evaluated, 58.7% male and 44.4% in the medical ward. Median age of the sample was 62 years old.

Results:

12 patients with delirium were identified, which represented 7.5% of the total number of patients studied. Infectious diseases were the most frequent underlying conditions. Delirium was more frequent in patients older than 65 years old. In 7 cases (58%) the delirium had not been diagnosed by the medical team involved in the treatment at the time of the study. 100 days after the study had been started, global mortality was 5.4% (8 patients), four (4) of which evidenced delirium upon assessment. In no case had diagnosis been entered in the medical record. 33.3% of confused patients had died 100 days after, what represented that presence of delirium during hospitalization is, upon discharge, a risk factor 16 times higher (OR 16.4, CI95%: 3.4-77.9:P 0.0015).

Conclusions:

we found a prevalence of 7.5% of delirium, associating a risk of death 16 times higher. Results suggest the need to implement strategies for early detection that may have an impact on reducing morbimortality of hospitalized patients.

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