About this Research Topic
Delirium is defined as an acute neuropsychiatric syndrome characterized by fluctuating changes in cognition and consciousness. It can occur at any age, but it occurs more commonly in patients who are older and have a previously compromised mental status. It is a common, serious, and often fatal condition among older patients.
Delirium can cause people to be either aggressive and agitated, or sleepy and inactive—or sometimes a combination of both. It can greatly affect how an older person recovers from illness or surgery. If delirium is not treated, or treatment is delayed, it can cause an older person’s mental and physical functions to decline.
The risk factors for delirium are categorized as predisposing or precipitating factors. Well-documented predisposing factors are age, medical comorbidities, cognitive, functional, visual, and hearing impairment, and institutional residence. Important precipitating factors apart from surgery are admission to an intensive care unit, anticholinergic drugs, alcohol or drug withdrawal, infections, iatrogenic complications, metabolic derangements, falls, and pain.
In older persons, delirium increases the risk of functional decline, institutionalization, and death. As such, it is primordial that caregivers are educated on the signs and symptoms of delirium along with preventative measures.
This Research Topic welcomes the submissions of original research, reviews, mini-reviews, case reports, and opinion articles, focusing on but not limited to the following topics related to delirium in older people:
• Associative risk factors (modifiable and unmodifiable)
• Delirium epidemiology in different healthcare settings
• Post-operative Delirium in older patients and/or relation to preoperative drugs
• Preventative strategies and diagnosis
• Management and pathologic state evolvement in patients with different forms of delirium
Delirium can cause people to be either aggressive and agitated, or sleepy and inactive—or sometimes a combination of both. It can greatly affect how an older person recovers from illness or surgery. If delirium is not treated, or treatment is delayed, it can cause an older person’s mental and physical functions to decline.
The risk factors for delirium are categorized as predisposing or precipitating factors. Well-documented predisposing factors are age, medical comorbidities, cognitive, functional, visual, and hearing impairment, and institutional residence. Important precipitating factors apart from surgery are admission to an intensive care unit, anticholinergic drugs, alcohol or drug withdrawal, infections, iatrogenic complications, metabolic derangements, falls, and pain.
In older persons, delirium increases the risk of functional decline, institutionalization, and death. As such, it is primordial that caregivers are educated on the signs and symptoms of delirium along with preventative measures.
This Research Topic welcomes the submissions of original research, reviews, mini-reviews, case reports, and opinion articles, focusing on but not limited to the following topics related to delirium in older people:
• Associative risk factors (modifiable and unmodifiable)
• Delirium epidemiology in different healthcare settings
• Post-operative Delirium in older patients and/or relation to preoperative drugs
• Preventative strategies and diagnosis
• Management and pathologic state evolvement in patients with different forms of delirium
Keywords: delirium, aging, risk factors, prevention, neuropsychiatric syndrome, acute confusional state, hyperactive, hypoactive
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
