[A nine-year controlled follow-up study of delirium patients discharged after treatment in a psychogeriatric university department].
BACKGROUND
Although delirium is a reversible cerebral syndrome, the effect of treatment of the elderly is unsatisfactory, involving prolonged hospitalizations and increased risk of relapse and mortality. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether hospitalization for delirium (severe delirium) diagnosed by ICD-10 criteria predicts increased morbidity, utilization of health services and mortality.


METHODS
Delirious inpatients (n = 26) discharged after treatment in an old-age psychiatric university clinic were studied for nine years. In a register-based design, the above-mentioned parameters of the delirium cohort were compared with a group of controls (n = 116).


RESULTS
There was a trend to increased mortality in the delirium cohort. Compared with the controls, the delirium cohort had a significantly increased incidence of disorders of vital organs, serious psychiatric disorders, particularly depression, increased use of hospital psychiatry and general practitioner's out-of-hours service, but less use of office-hour services. The incidence of delirium in the cohorts was low. In the delirium cohort, there was no significantly increased use of services or the number of diagnoses in somatic hospitals.


CONCLUSIONS
Increased somatic and psychiatric morbidity and a trend to increased mortality indicate a serious prognosis after severe delirium in the elderly. It is noteworthy that the delirium cohort had increased use of GPs' out-of-hours services but less use of office-hour services.
Djernes
Jens Kronborg
JK
Gerontopsykiatrisk Afdeling, Psykiatrien i Nordjyllands Amt, Brønderslev Psykiatriske Sygehus, DK-9700 Brønderslev. jensdjernes@webspeed.dk
Munk-Jørgensen
Povl
P
Olesen
Frede
F
Foldager
Leslie
L
Gulmann
Nils Christian
NC
D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003693:Delirium / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005851:Geriatric Nursing; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010351:Patient Discharge; D011379:Prognosis; D012008:Recurrence; D012042:Registries; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome