Prevalence of Delirium and its Related Factors in the Elderly Admitted to Selected Hospitals in Tehran, Iran

Delirium is an acute and fluctuating change in the patient’s mental state associated with decreased alertness and impaired attention. This study aims to investigate the prevalence of delirium and its related factors in older adults hospitalized in selected hospitals in Tehran, Iran.

 This is a cross-sectional study. The study population consists of all the elderly hospitalized in the emergency and internal departments of Firoozabadi and Rasoul Akram hospitals in Tehran, Iran. Using a simple random sampling method, 300 eligible patients were selected for the study. To collect the required information, a demographic and medical history questionnaire and the 4AT test were used. Related blood biomarkers were also examined. After collection, the data were analyzed in SPSS software, version 24 using descriptive statistics (Mean±SD) and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation test). The significance level was set at 0.05.

 The Mean age of patients was 70.91±8.77 years; 53% were male and 62% were married. Thirty-one percent were exposed to delirium and 43% had delirium. The patients’ delirium status had a significant relationship with the history of polypharmacy (r=0.503, P<0.001), independence in performing activities of daily living at home (r=0.404, P<0.001), history of hospitalization in the past month (r=0.390, P<0.001), hearing loss (r=0.362, P=0.001), vision loss (r=0.382, P=0.006), history of cognitive impairment (r=0.350, P=0.002), Parkinson’s disease (r=0.301, P=0.004), history of specialized treatment for depression (r=0.218, P=0.012), and chronic pain (r=0.251, P=0.043).

Early diagnosis of delirium can prevent its adverse effects. It is necessary to identify the risk factors of this syndrome and provide appropriate and comprehensive interventions for the hospitalized elderly with delirium.