International journal of geriatric psychiatry
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Int J Geriatr Psychiatry · Apr 2016
Observational StudyDelirium, how does it end? Mortality as an outcome in older medical inpatients.
Delirium is associated with poor outcomes. Previous research in delirium and mortality gave rather inconclusive results. This study aims to find out the rates of mortality at 1 year and the factors associated with it in a cohort of hospitalized older patients. ⋯ Although the sample size precludes drawing any definite conclusion, the findings of this study suggest that delirium is not an important risk factor for subsequent mortality. Perhaps delirium and cognitive impairment share common pathophysiological pathways that are related to mortality and in which the currently used methods cannot detect.