[The mortality rate among patients with delirium 6 months after diagnosis by a consultation-liaison psychiatric team].

AIM

Data from Western countries suggest that delirium is associated with a high rate of mortality; however, the mortality rate in patients with delirium in India has not been studied. The aim of this study is to determine the mortality rate among a group of hospitalized patients with delirium 6 months after being diagnosed with delirium.

METHODOLOGY

The study included 97 patients with delirium that were evaluated by the consultation-liaison psychiatric team. Informed consent was provided by the patients' caregivers. The patients were rated according to the Delirium Rating Scale-Revised 98 (DRS-R-98) and Delirium Motor Subtype Scale, and the etiology of delirium was recorded using a structured format.

RESULTS

Mean age of the patients was 47.14 ± 18.10 years and mean duration of formal education was 8.35 ± 5.63 years. Most of the patients were male (n = 69, 71.13%) and had hospital-emergent delirium (n = 68, 70.10%). Mean duration of delirium was 4.15 ± 5.71 d at the time of assessment and mean DRS-R-98 score was 30.71 ± 4.82. Among the 97 patients, 12 (12.1%) died during their hospital stay- a higher mortality rate than that observed in other patients referred for consultation-liaison psychiatric services that were diagnosed with psychiatric disorders other than delirium (4.43%) or not diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder (no deaths) during the same time period. The mortality rate in patients with delirium was also significantly higher than that seen among all other hospital admissions during the study period (6.79%; 2119 deaths among 31,190 admissions; chi-square value: 4.73; P = 0.02). Mortality rate in patient's with delirium at 6 month follow-up was 27.83%.

CONCLUSIONS

Delirium in hospitalized patients is associated with a high mortality rate.