Delirium-biomarkers and genetic variance.

Abstract

Advancement in quality of health care has resulted in improved patient outcomes; however, knowledge of delirium as well as methods of treatment and its prevention are not well known. The prevalence of delirium in postoperative patients is associated with an increase in mortality, impaired recovery, and increased hospital costs (Chu et al., 2011). Complex syndromes, like delirium, are usually not associated with a single independent cause but instead with a number of different sources (van Munster et al., 2011). Delirium is defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-V) as a disturbance in attention and awareness according to several criteria (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Biomarkers are biochemical or molecular traces related to the presence or severity of a disease (Chu et al., 2011). Biomarkers present before the onset of the disease can be used as a risk marker, the rise and fall of biomarkers during illness can be tracked as a disease marker, and remaining biomarkers can be seen as an end product of a disease (Chu et al., 2011). The aim of this paper is to identify biomarkers that may have a diagnostic and prognostic role in delirium.