The diagnosis of delirium in 80 emergency unit patients.
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.
Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). cj0333623043@originet.com.br
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dos Reis Filho
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003693:Delirium / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D004630:Emergencies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity