Epidemiology, risk factors, diagnosis, and potentially effective strategies to improve delirium in patients admitted to intensive care units: A narrative review

Abstract

Delirium is prevalent in intensive care units (ICUs), causing significant financial burden and devastating consequences. The primary objective of this article is to furnish comprehensive insights into delirium, encompassing its epidemiology, risk factors, diagnosis, and strategies for preventing its occurrence among patients in the ICUs. A comprehensive literature search was conducted using electronic databases PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus to identify relevant studies published until September 16, 2023. The search items included the terms “Delirium” and “Intensive Care Unit”. It is better to implement the pain, agitation, and delirium bundle to diagnose delirium in children admitted to the pediatric ICU. Therefore, methods are suggested to improve the sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic tools, such as training nurses, developing guidelines, and using electroencephalogram and automated infrared pupillometry. It should be noted that delirium significantly impacts mortality and morbidity and imposes heavy costs on the healthcare system. Therefore, finding methods to improve the quality and speed of delirium detection is important.