title: Prevalence of impaired memory in hospitalized adults and associations with in-hospital sleep loss.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Effective inpatient teaching requires intact patient memory, but studies suggest hospitalized adults may have memory deficits. Sleep loss among inpatients could contribute to memory impairment.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess memory in older hospitalized adults, and to test the association between sleep quantity, sleep quality, and memory, in order to identify a possible contributor to memory deficits in these patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  General medicine and hematology/oncology inpatient wards.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-nine hospitalized adults at least 50 years of age with no diagnosed sleep disorder.
  
  
  METHODS
  Immediate memory and memory after a 24-hour delay were assessed using a word recall and word recognition task from the University of Southern California Repeatable Episodic Memory Test. A vignette-based memory task was piloted as an alternative test more closely resembling discharge instructions. Sleep duration and efficiency overnight in the hospital were measured using actigraphy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean immediate recall was 3.8 words out of 15 (standard deviation = 2.1). Forty-nine percent of subjects had poor memory, defined as immediate recall score of 3 or lower. Median immediate recognition was 11 words out of 15 (interquartile range [IQR] = 9-13). Median delayed recall score was 1 word, and median delayed recognition was 10 words (IQR = 8-12). In-hospital sleep duration and efficiency were not significantly associated with memory. The medical vignette score was correlated with immediate recall (r = 0.49, P < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  About half of the inpatients studied had poor memory while in the hospital, signaling that hospitalization might not be an ideal teachable moment. In-hospital sleep was not associated with memory scores.
authors: Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
authors: Hila
authors: H
authors: Calev
authors: Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
authors: Lisa M
authors: LM
authors: Spampinato
authors: Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
authors: Valerie G
authors: VG
authors: Press
authors: Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
authors: David O
authors: DO
authors: Meltzer
authors: Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.|Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
authors: Vineet M
authors: VM
authors: Arora
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007087:Illinois / Q000453:epidemiology; D007297:Inpatients; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology