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. 2024 Nov 29;16(11):e74797.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.74797. eCollection 2024 Nov.

A Secondary Analysis of the Prevalence and Clinical Profile of Psychiatric Referrals of Delirium in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Central India

Saloni Mishra  1 , Varchasvi Mudgal  1 , Rahul Mathur  1 , Vijay Niranjan  1 , Virendra Pal  1
Affiliations

A Secondary Analysis of the Prevalence and Clinical Profile of Psychiatric Referrals of Delirium in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Central India

Saloni Mishra et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Introduction: Delirium is a common and serious neuropsychiatric syndrome characterized by acute, fluctuating alterations in consciousness, cognition, and perception. It is associated with increased morbidity, mortality, length of hospital stays, and healthcare costs.

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and clinical profile of psychiatric referrals of delirium in a tertiary-care hospital.

Methods: A secondary analysis was conducted on patients with delirium referred to the CLP Unit, Department of Psychiatry, between June 2022 and June 2023. A comprehensive analysis was done using descriptive statistics to summarize the data, independent t-tests to compare group means, and chi-square tests to examine associations between categorical variables, providing a robust evaluation of the key relationships and patterns.

Results: The key findings indicate that the psychiatric referral rate was about 2.98% from various departments. The prevalence of delirium in our hospital was 13.2% of the total psychiatric referrals and about 0.4% of the total inpatients of the tertiary care hospital during the study duration. The mean age of delirium patients in the geriatric and non-geriatric groups was 71.6 years and 37.9 years, respectively. Most referrals were from the medicine department. Metabolic disorders and substance use were the most common physical and psychiatric comorbidities, respectively. Psychotropic use with supportive intervention was common (60.3%), with antipsychotics being the most commonly used class of psychotropics.

Conclusion: Delirium is a prevalent and clinically diverse syndrome that affects a significant proportion of hospitalized patients. It is a multidimensional disorder impacting a range of populations. Physical and psychiatric comorbidities play an important role in prognosis. While psychotropic use may be helpful symptomatically, it is not associated with better outcomes. Treating the underlying cause remains of paramount importance.

Keywords: central india; delirium; india; outcome; prevalence; tertiary care hospital; variables.

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Conflict of interest statement

Human subjects: Consent for treatment and open access publication was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. M.G.M Medical College Ethics Committee issued approval Not Applicable. The research plan was approved by the institution's research ethics committee before the commencement of the study, and the requirement for informed consent was waived because of its retrospective, record-based nature. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

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