Management of delirium in terminally ill AIDS patients

Delirium is the most common neuropsychiatric complication of hospitalized AIDS patients. Typically, delirium is multifactorial in etiology and a complete evaluation to rule out all treatable, contributable medical conditions should be the first stage in the approach to a delirious AIDS patient. While a search for probable cause is underway, the next goal of treatment should be sedation. To help clinicians recognize and manage delirium in advanced HIV disease, we describe our experience with 206 AIDS patients.