The diagnosis of delirium in 80 emergency unit patients

• Published in: Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria Vol. 56; no. 2; pp. 176 - 183
• Main Authors: Neves, A C, Sesso, R de D, Ferraz, H B, Francisco, S, dos Reis Filho, J B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Portuguese
• Published: Brazil Academia Brasileira de Neurologia - ABNEURO 01.06.1998; Academia Brasileira de Neurologia (ABNEURO)
• Subjects: acute confusional state; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; delirium; Delirium - diagnosis; Delirium - etiology; diagnosis; Emergencies; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; NEUROSCIENCES; Predictive Value of Tests; PSYCHIATRY; Sensitivity and Specificity; diagnosis; acute confusional state; diagnóstico; delirium; estado confusional agudo
• ISSN: 0004-282X; 1678-4227; 1678-4227; 0004-282X
• DOI: 10.1590/S0004-282X1998000200002

We evaluated the initial and final diagnosis of 80 patients with delirium arriving at the emergence unit of a university hospital in a large Brazilian city over a period of 30 months up to December 1991. The diagnosis was based on the DSM-IIIR criteria. Patients with a known history of head trauma or epileptic seizure and patients younger than 13 years were excluded. Only patients with a disease of up to 7 days were included. The patients were subdivided into four etiologic groups: vascular; associated with the use of alcohol; infectious-parasitic; miscellaneous. The results showed a rate of correct diagnosis ranging from 65 to 80% with the use of kappa test (standard good to excellent). Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive and negative predictive values had results showing different conditions for initial diagnosis in each group. This study can help the initial diagnosis of delirium and the choice for diagnostic testing.