Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2009 Jul;25(3):593-614, x.
doi: 10.1016/j.ccc.2009.05.002.

Delirium: an emerging frontier in the management of critically ill children

Heidi A B Smith  1 , D Catherine Fuchs, Pratik P Pandharipande, Frederick E Barr, E Wesley Ely
Affiliations
Review

Delirium: an emerging frontier in the management of critically ill children

Heidi A B Smith et al. Crit Care Clin. 2009 Jul.

Abstract

The objectives of this article are (1) to introduce pediatric delirium and provide understanding of acute brain dysfunction with its classification and clinical presentations (2) to understand how delirium is diagnosed and discuss current modes of delirium diagnosis in the critically ill adult population and translation to pediatrics (3) to understand the prevalence and prognostic significance of delirium in the adult and pediatric critically ill population (4) to discuss the pathophysiology of delirium as currently understood, and (5) to provide general management guidelines for delirium.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Abbreviated schematic of the pCAM-ICU. aCourtesy of Heidi AB Smith, MD and Jenny Boyd, MD, Nashville, TN
Figure 2
Figure 2
The Attention Screening Exam (ASE) pictures used for assessment of “Feature 2: Inattention” for the pCAM-ICU are adapted for pediatrics with use of bold colors and child-friendly images. aCourtesy of Heidi AB Smith, MD and Jenny Boyd, MD, Nashville, TN
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Republished in

References

    1. Ely EW, Siegel MD, Inouye SK. Delirium in the intensive care unit: an under-recognized syndrome of organ dysfunction. Semin Respir Crit Care Med. 2001;22(2):115–126. - PubMed
    1. Francis J, Martin D, Kapoor WN. A prospective study of delirium in hospitalized elderly. JAMA. 1990;263(8):1097–1101. - PubMed
    1. Inouye SK. The dilemma of delirium: clinical and research controversies regarding diagnosis and evaluation of delirium in hospitalized elderly medical patients. Am J Med. 1994;97(3):278–288. - PubMed
    1. Morandi A, Pandharipande P, Trabucchi M, Rozzini R, Mistraletti G, Trompeo AC, et al. Understanding international differences in terminology for delirium and other types of acute brain dysfunction in critically ill patients. Intensive Care Med. 2008:341907–341915. - PubMed
    1. Jacobi J, Fraser GL, Coursin DB, Riker RR, Fontaine D, Wittbrodt ET, et al. Clinical practice guidelines for the sustained use of sedatives and analgesics in the critically ill adult. Crit Care Med. 2002;30(1):119–141. - PubMed

Publication types