Contributed by Brian O’Gara MD MPH Department of Anesthesiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA Postoperative delirium occurs in 15-50% of older surgical patients, and increases the risk of postoperative complications, hospital mortality and long-term cognitive dysfunction.1 Hospital -based multicomponent interventions can prevent postoperative delirium, but these approaches are only 30-40% effective.2 Therefore, there is […]
Michael Reznik, MD Assistant Professor of Neurology & Neurosurgery. Brown University, Alpert Medical School I’ve been interested in brain science, consciousness, and cognition for as long as I can remember, and it was through the lens of these interests that I opted to pursue a career in neurology. I found myself especially interested in patients […]
Karla D. Krewulak PhD and Kirsten M. Fiest PhD Department of Critical Care Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada Determination of delirium presence or absence may no longer be sufficient when tools exist to measure a delirium score which may be used to estimate delirium severity. Measurement of delirium severity has been identified as […]
Contributed by Shawniqua Williams Roberson, M.Eng., M.D., Departments of Neurology and Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN. Dr. Williams is a graduate of the 2019 NIDUS Bootcamp. Many of us are familiar with the feeling of not getting enough sleep. Perhaps a storm rattled the windows all night, or the baby couldn’t stop crying. […]
Contributed by Thiago J. Avelino-Silva, MD, PhD*; Flávia B. Garcez, MD, PhD* *Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil Delirium results from an intricate combination of dozens of possible predisposing and precipitating factors1. Older age, functional dependence, and preexisting cognitive impairment are key determinants for its occurrence, but the latter is a […]
Contributed by Mark Oldham, MD Assistant Professor – Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY The data are clear and, sadly, just as clearly predictable.1,2 COVID-19 has caused delirium—lots of it in fact. Twenty to 30% of older adults with COVID-19 develop delirium, with older adults at higher risk of delirium than […]
Contributed by Evelyn Alvarez1,2,3 & Juan Pablo Saa4 1 Centro de Estudios en Neurociencia Humana y Neuropsicología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Diego Portales, Chile, 2 Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Central de Chile, Chile, 3 Departamento de Terapia Ocupacional y Ciencia de la Ocupación, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Chile, 4 Florey […]
Contributed by Kimberly Oosterhouse, PhD, RN, CNE, Loyola University Chicago, NIDUS Pilot Grant Awardee “Kim, I think this is it; she is not responding to me. Can you please come and be with us?” These are the words I woke up to one morning 16 years ago. My distraught grandfather called me from the inpatient […]
Contributed by Zoë Tieges, PhD, Psychology Research Fellow, Geriatric Medicine, Usher Institute, The University of Edinburgh Severity grading of delirium in research and clinical practice may have important value in monitoring clinical course and recovery, in providing prognostic information for risk stratification, in informing treatment, and as endpoints in clinical trials. Fine-grained measures of delirium […]
Contributed by Benjamin K. I. Helfand, MSc, MD/PhD (candidate), University of Massachusetts Medical School Delirium affects approximately 3 million older Americans annually, accounting for over $164 billion in healthcare expenditures.1 Delirium disproportionately affects our older population (over age 65) with major public health implications. Development of delirium is associated with prolonged hospitalization, cognitive decline, and […]