What is the Delirium Bibliography? The searchable Delirium Bibliography page is one of our most popular features, allowing you to quickly gain access to the literature on delirium and acute care of older persons. It is primarily intended for clinicians and researchers interested in exploring these topics. The NIDUS team keeps it updated for you on a monthly basis!
How to Search for Articles: Search by author, title, year, and/or keywords. Each article is indexed by keywords taken from MEDLINE and other relevant databases. Click on the title of the article to read the abstract, journal, etc.
Reference Information
- Title
- A comparison of changes in drug burden index between older inpatients who fell and people who have not fallen: A case-control study
- Authors
- O'Leary, C. E. T. Wilkinson, T. J. Hanger, H. C.
- Year
- 2024
- Journal
- Australas J Ageing
- Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Older inpatients who fall are often frail, with multiple co-morbidities and polypharmacy. Although the causes of falls are multifactorial, sedating and delirium-inducing drugs increase that risk. The aims were to determine whether people who fell had a change in their sedative and anticholinergic medication burden during an admission compared to people who did not fall. A secondary aim was to determine the factors associated with change in drug burden. METHODS: A retrospective, observational, case-control study of inpatients who fell. Two hundred consecutive people who fell were compared with 200 randomly selected people who had not fallen. Demographics, functional ability, frailty and cognition were recorded. For each patient, their total medications and anticholinergic and sedative burden were calculated on admission and on discharge, using the drug burden index (DBI). RESULTS: People who fell were more dependent and cognitively impaired than people who did not fallen. People who fell had a higher DBI on admission, than people who had not fall (mean: .69 vs .43, respectively, p < .001) and discharge (.66 vs .38, p < .001). For both cohorts, the DBI decreased between admission and discharge (-.03 and -.05), but neither were clinically significant. Higher total medications and a higher number DBI medications on admission were both associated with greater DBI changes (p = .003 and <.001, respectively). However, the presence (or absence) of cognitive impairment, dependency, frailty and single vs multiple falls were not significantly associated with DBI changes. CONCLUSIONS: In older people, DBI medications and falls are both common and have serious consequences, yet this study was unable to demonstrate any clinically relevant reduction in average DBI either in people who fell or people who had not fallen during a hospital admission.
- PMID
PMID: 38770595
- Keywords
aged
anticholinergics
sedatives
- Page(s)
- Volume
- Issue
| Title | Authors | Journal | Year | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Undiagnosed delirium is frequent and difficult to predict: Results from a prevalence survey of a tertiary hospital. | Lange, P. W. Lamanna, M. Watson, R. Maier, A. B. | J Clin Nurs | 2019 |
Undiagnosed delirium |