Effects of non-pharmacological interventions for preventing delirium in general ward inpatients: A systematic review & meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the types and contents of non-pharmacological delirium prevention interventions applied to inpatients in general wards, and to verified the effectiveness of the interventions on the incidence of delirium. We performed an extensive search of bibliographic databases and registries (CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, ClinicalTrials.gov and WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, PubMed and Google Scholar, and Korean DB such as RISS, DBpia, KISS, NDSL and KCI) using terms to identify delirium, prevention, and non-pharmacological. We searched all databases from their inception to January 2021 and imposed restriction on language of publication in English and Korean. We included studies if they were conducted as all types of randomized controlled trials (RCT), involving adult patients aged 19 years or more who were admitted to a general ward. We included trials comparing non-pharmacological intervention versus usual care. The entire process of data selection and extraction, assessment of risk of bias with ROB2.O was independently performed by three researchers. The estimated effect size was an odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval. The fixed effects model and general inverse variance estimation method were adopted. The type of non-pharmacological delirium prevention interventions for inpatients in general ward was mainly multi-component intervention to correct delirium risk factors. The content and intensity of non-pharmacological interventions varied greatly depending on the characteristics of the patient and the clinical situation. As a result of the meta-analysis, non-pharmacological multi-component intervention was effective in reducing the incidence of delirium, and it was confirmed that it was effective in reducing the incidence of delirium in both the internal and surgical wards. It was confirmed by quantitative evidence that non-pharmacological interventions, especially multi-component interventions, were effective in preventing delirium in general ward inpatients.

Fig 1. PRISMA flow.

Fig 2. Risk of bias.

Fig 3. Forest plot of total effect of on the incidence of delirium and funnel plot.

Fig 4. Forest plot of effect of incidence of delirium by subgroup and funnel plot.