[The prevention of delirium]

Delirium is a disturbance of consciousness, cognition and perception that occurs frequently in medically ill patients. Although it is associated with increased morbidity and mortality, it is often not recognised. Predisposing factors are believed to have multiplicative effects and include dementia, advanced age and male gender. Recently developed models allow for the estimation of the risk of developing delirium during a hospitalisation, based on predisposing factors and acute additional stressors. Although it has been shown to be efficacious, the prevention of delirium is underutilised. Prevention consists of aggressive management of known risk factors and early detection. The intervention had not always significant effect on the severity of delirium or on recurrence rates; this finding suggests that primary prevention of delirium is probably the most effective treatment strategy.