Distress due to delirium experience.

Area of Science:

• Geriatric Medicine
• Intensive Care Medicine
• Psychiatry

Background:

• Limited research exists on the distress levels experienced by patients after recovering from delirium.
• Delirium is a common and serious condition in hospitalized patients, often associated with negative outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the level of distress experienced by patients following an episode of delirium.
• To understand the subjective experience of delirium in recovered patients.

Main Methods:

• Fifty-three patients were assessed using the Delirium Rating Scale-Revised-98 (DRS-R-98) at baseline.
• The Delirium Experience Questionnaire (DEQ) was administered post-recovery to assess distress levels.

Main Results:

• Only 28.3% of patients recalled confusion; the rest had no recollection.
• Both groups reported significant distress: remembered patients experienced moderate to very severe distress (26.7%–33.3%), while those with no recollection reported moderate to severe distress (44.7%–26.3%).
• Recollected experiences included fearfulness, anxiety, confusion, feeling strange, and visual hallucinations.

Conclusions:

• The overall experience of delirium is distressing for patients.
• A significant proportion of patients, regardless of recall, experienced at least moderate distress.
• Subjective distress associated with delirium warrants clinical attention and further investigation.