The economic cost of delirium: A systematic review and quality assessment

Abstract

Introduction: This review aims to systematically identify and appraise the methodological quality of claims on the cost of delirium; and discuss challenges and opportunities for improvements in the precision of the estimates. Methods: Searches of scientific papers and gray literature were performed up until June 2020. The Larg and Moss checklist was used to assess the methodological quality of the included studies. Results: After deduplication, the search identified 317 potentially relevant articles, of which 17 articles were eligible for inclusion. After adjusting for inflation and common currency, the cost of delirium ranged between $806 and $24,509 (in 2019 US$). Discussion: This review found significant variation among the cost estimates and methodological quality. There has been limited focus on dementia as a sequela of delirium in terms of economic implications, but recent evidence suggests cost implications of delirium may be 52% higher when dementia is considered.