Delirium
Revision as of 02:47, 2 December 2015 by Rossdonaldson1 (talk | contribs)
Background
Delirium vs. dementia vs. psych
Clinical Features
- Main cognitive impairment is that of inattention (vs memory in dementia)
- Generally develops over hours to days
- Symptoms are classically described as fluctuating throughout the day (ie may appear normal in between episodes)
ED Confusion Assessment Method[1]
- Acute onset of mental status changes and/or fluctuating course
- Anattention
- Disorganized thinking
- Altered level of consciousness
A patient must possess both features 1 and 2 AND either 3 or 4 to meet delirium criteria
Differential Diagnosis
- A
- Alcohol
- E
- Electrolyte Abnormalities
- Encephalopathy (hepatic, hypertensive)
- I
- Insulin (hypoglycemia)
- O
- Opiates
- U
- Uremia
- T
- Trauma
- Toxic Exposure
- Thyrotoxicosis
- I
- Infection
- P
- Psych
- S
General Psychiatric
- Organic causes
- Psychiatric causes
Diagnosis
Main goal is to find the underlying cause.
- CBC (eg elevated WBC)
- U/E/Cr (eg electrolyte derangements)
- LFTs (eg hepatobiliary infection)
- Urine analysis (eg UTI)
- CXR (eg pneumonia)
- ?Utox
- ?CT/LP
Treatment
- Treat underlying cause
- Antipsychotics (eg haloperidol, risperidone) may be useful for hyperactive delirium with psychotic features
Disposition
- Admission
See Also
References
- ↑ Inouye SK, van Dyck CH, Alessi CA, et al. Clarifying confusion: the confusion assessment method. A new method for detection of delirium. Ann Intern Med 1990; 113:941.