Analysis of risk factors for delirium in critically ill patients in a psychiatric hospital： a retrospective study

Abstract

BackgroundThe incidence of delirium in critically ill psychiatric patients is high， and there are many factors affecting delirium occurrence. At present， epidemiological studies on delirium among critically ill patients in psychiatric hospitals are limited.ObjectiveTo explore the risk factors for delirium in critically ill patients in a psychiatric hospital， so as to guide the clinical management of delirium in psychiatric hospitals.MethodsThis retrospective study included 427 critically ill patients who were admitted to Shenzhen Kangning Hospital from January 1， 2019 to May 31， 2021. The delirium situation， gender， age， pre-admission course of illness （duration from the onset of acute mental state changes to in-patient registration at a psychiatric hospital）， history of mental illness， history of cognitive dysfunction， history of using psychoactive substances， history of using sedative and hypnotic drugs， number of combined chronic diseases， number of combined drugs and type of disease were examined as potential risk factors for delirium. Single Logistic regression was used to analyze the potential risk factors for delirium， and the potential risk factors were incorporated into the multi-factor Logistic regression analysis model so as to gradually screen out the risk factors for delirium in critically ill psychiatric patients.ResultsDelirium was present in 33.49% （143/427） of critically ill patients. Multi-factor Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the presence of delirium was associated with mental and behavioral disorders caused by psychoactive substances （OR=8.949， P<0.01）， absent history of mental illness （OR=4.202， P<0.01）， number of combined chronic diseases （OR=1.249， P<0.01）， age （OR=1.031， P<0.01） and pre-admission course of illness （OR=0.942， P<0.01） .ConclusionDelirium was present in nearly 1/3 critically ill patients in the psychiatric hospital. The risk factors for delirium included short course of illness before admission， age， more combined chronic diseases， absent history of mental illness， mental and behavioral disorders caused by psychoactive substances. ［Funded by Shenzhen Fund for Guangdong Provincial High-level Clinical Key Specialties （number， SZGSP013）］

Keywords

• psychiatric hospital
• critically ill patients
• delirium
• risk factors
• retrospective study