Home|Journals|Articles by Year|Audio Abstracts
 

Original Research



Delirium as a predictor of longer hospital stays in mechanically ventilated patients

Kiran I, Indupalli Madhuri, Anjani Sravanthi Kotturi.




Abstract

Background: Respiratory failure is one condition that needs mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit (ICU). Patients in the ICU are highly vulnerable to the development of delirium due to various reasons. Delirium is associated with more deaths, longer ICU stay, and higher cost.

Objective: This study was carried out to determine the relationship between delirium and length of stay in ICU and hospital among mechanically ventilated ICU patients.

Materials and Methods: This was a prospective study, conducted on 105 consecutively admitted medical ICU patients requiring mechanical ventilation during hospitalization from 1 June 2013 to 1 may 2014. We assessed delirium using the Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU and Richmond Agitation–Sedation Scale. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to assess the effects of delirium and to determine the relationship between delirium and its variables.

Results: Of 105 patients, 48 (45%) patients experienced delirium. Patients who experienced delirium were older in age (mean±SD: 54±16 versus 47±15 years) compared to their counterparts who did not experience delirium. They had a 39% greater risk of remaining in the ICU on any given day even after adjusting for age, gender, race, Charlson comorbidity score, APACHE II score, and coma (HR: 1.12; 95% CI: 0.83–1.52, p = 0.06). Similarly, patients who experienced delirium had a 45% greater risk of remaining in the hospital after adjusting for the same covariates (HR: 1.9; 95% CI 1.3–2.9; p < 0.01).

Conclusion: In this study, delirium occurred in nearly half of the mechanically ventilated ICU patients. Even after adjustment for relevant covariates, delirium patients had longer ICU and hospital stay. So delirium is found to be a predictor of longer hospital stays in mechanically ventilated patients.

Key words: Delirium, mechanical ventilation, intensive care unit (ICU)






Full-text options


Share this Article


Online Article Submission
• ejmanager.com




ejPort - eJManager.com
Refer & Earn
JournalList
About BiblioMed
License Information
Terms & Conditions
Privacy Policy
Contact Us

The articles in Bibliomed are open access articles licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.