• Sónia Martins, Patrícia Moldes, João Pinto-de-Sousa, Filipe Conceição, José Artur Paiva, Mário R Simões, and Lia Fernandes.
• 1Research and Education Unit on Aging,UNIFAI,University of Porto,Portugal.
• Acta Neuropsychiatr. 2014 Oct 1;26(5):321-4.

ObjectiveTo present the pilot study on the European Portuguese validation of the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM).MethodsThe translation process was carried out according to International Society Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research guidelines with trained researchers and inter-rater reliability assessment. The study included 50 elderly patients, admitted (≥24 h) to two intermediate care units. Exclusion criteria were: Glasgow Coma Scale (total score ≤11), blindness/deafness, inability to communicate and not able to speak Portuguese. The sensitivity and specificity of CAM were assessed, with DSM-IV-TR criteria of delirium used as a reference standard.ResultsFindings revealed excellent inter-rater reliability (k>0.81), moderate sensitivity (73%) and excellent specificity (95%).ConclusionThese preliminary results suggested that this version emerges as a promising diagnostic instrument for delirium.

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