Delirium as 12-month mortality predictor

Abstract

Introduction The delirium of the elderly is defined as an acute confusional state, with variation during the day, characterized by impaired consciousness, orientation, memory, thinking, attention and behavior. It is a clinical syndrome with poor prognosis in hospitalized patients over 65 years. Purpose The purpose of this research is to investigate whether the organic psychosyndrome of the elderly is a mortality predictor. Material It was used material from patients with organic psychosyndrome older than 60 years, who were hospitalized in pathological clinics of the Hospital of Corfu and it was diagnosed by the linker portion of the Psychiatric Clinic. Methodology During the research, it was studied that the medical record of the patient and telephone calls were made for more complete monitoring at intervals of 3, 6 and 12 months. The patients diagnosed with organic psychosyndrome neither suffered from a psychiatric disorder psychotic type in the past, nor previously preceded anaesthesia in the context of physical disease. Results According to the analysis of the data of the study, 50 patients met the criteria of research. Eight percent of patients died during hospitalization, in the first 3 months after diagnosis 28% of the initially hospitalized patients, in 6 months 42%, while in the year, 48% of the initial total patients. Conclusions The analysis of the survey results shows that about half of the patients die from pathological causes in the first 12 months after the diagnosis of the organic psychosyndrome, which means that the organic psychosyndrome could be considered as a poor prognostic marker for the pathological cases.