Arabic intensive care delirium screening checklist's validity and reliability: A multicenter study.

PURPOSE

To develop an Arabic version of Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist (ICDSC) and assess its validity and reliability among critically ill patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Multicentered study of convenience sample of adult ICU patients. Arabic translation was performed with rigorous back-to-back translation methods. Concurrent validity was established by calculating the sensitivity and specificity of two examiner assessments compared to a psychiatric evaluation. Kappa coefficients describe interrater reliability, whereas Cronbach α and composite reliability depict internal consistency.

RESULTS

Three hundred critically ill patients were enrolled. Of these, validity testing was assessed in 180 patients. ICDSC screening was positive for delirium in 11% of enrolled patients. The area under the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve is 0.9413, with predicted sensitivity 70% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 60-81%) and specificity 99% (95% CI: 98-100%). The Arabic ICDSC showed acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach α = 0.63 and composite reliability = 0.64). Interrater agreement was excellent (Kappa coefficient [ҡ] = 0.85).

CONCLUSIONS

Arabic ICDSC is a valid and reliable delirium-screening tool among Arabic-speaking ICU population. Future studies could address whether these findings are generalizable to a higher proportion of mechanically ventilated patients, and address acceptability and reliability in other Arabic language critical care settings.