title: Phenomenology of delirium among patients admitted to a coronary care unit.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the phenomenology and motor sub-types of delirium in patients admitted in a Coronary Care Unit (CCU).
  
  
  METHODS
  Three hundred and nine consecutive patients were screened for delirium, and those found positive for the same were evaluated by a psychiatrist on DSM-IVTR criteria to confirm the diagnosis. Those with a diagnosis of delirium were evaluated on the DRS-R-98 to study the phenomenology and on the amended Delirium Motor Symptom Scale (DMSS) to study the motor sub-types.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty-one patients were found to have delirium. Commonly seen symptoms of delirium included: disturbances in sleep-wake cycle, lability of affect, thought abnormality, disturbance in attention, disorientation, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Very few patients had delusions. More than half of the participants were categorized as having hyperactive (n = 46; 56.8%) followed by hypoactive sub-type (n = 21; 26%) and mixed sub-type (n = 9; 11.1%) of delirium. There were minor differences in the frequency and severity of symptoms of delirium between incidence and prevalence cases of delirium and those with different motoric sub-types.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Delirium in CCU set-up is characterized by the symptoms of disturbances in sleep-wake cycle, lability of affect, thought abnormality, disturbance in attention, disorientation, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Hyperactive delirium is more common than hypoactive delirium.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research , Chandigarh , India.
authors.forename: Sanjay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lahariya
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research , Chandigarh , India.
authors.forename: Sandeep
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grover
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research , Chandigarh , India.
authors.forename: Shiv
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bagga
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research , Chandigarh , India.
authors.forename: Akhilesh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharma
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003325:Coronary Care Units / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003693:Delirium / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000639:trends; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Delirium; cardiac illness; intensive care unit