Investigating Factors Related to Delirium in Patients and Family Caregivers of Patients Hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit: A Cross-Sectional Study

Delirium is an unpleasant experience for patients and their family, which brings complications for them. Early diagnosis and reduction of risk factors affecting delirium requires the knowledge and awareness of doctors and nurses of special care departments about the nature of delirium symptoms, disease symptoms and factors affecting the occurrence of this syndrome. The present study was conducted with the aim of determining the factors related to delirium in patients and family caregivers of patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

In this cross-sectional study carried out in 2023, 256 pairs of patients admitted to the ICU in hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences and their family caregivers were selected using the proportional stratified sampling. To collect information, three questionnaires including demographic information, CAM-ICU questionnaire and sour seven questionnaire were used.

The patients participating in the research had an average age of 41.75 ± 17.07 and most of them were male (55%) with an average number of hospitalization days of 11.84 ± 8.82. Delirium was reported positively in 210 cases of patients (81.7%). Family caregivers had an average age of 42.25 ± 14 and were mostly women (66.9%). In addition, 171 (66.5%) of family caregivers had reported symptoms of delirium. The results of the statistical analysis showed that there is a statistically significant relationship between delirium in patients and delirium in family caregivers in the samples of the participants in this study (P<0.5).

Considering the high rate of delirium reported in patients and caregivers of patients hospitalized in the ICU, identification and screening of delirium is very important. By knowing the individual characteristics and factors related to the occurrence of delirium identified in this study and to the extent possible to correct some cases or support the caregivers, the ground can be prepared to improve the quality of care in the care system.