Precipitants of Delirium in Older Inpatients Admitted in Surgery for Post-Fall Hip Fracture: An Observational Study

Hip fractures precipitate several acute adverse outcomes in elderly people, thus leading to chronic adverse outcomes.

The objective of our study was to examine the clinical characteristics associated with incident delirium in community dwelling elderly individuals who have a hip fracture.

Retrospective observational cohort study.

Data was collected from an academic tertiary hospital affiliated with McGill University.

114 elderly individuals who were above 65 years of age, who underwent surgery for a fractured hip.

The main outcome variable was incident delirium, which was assessed by chart reviews of notes and observations recorded by nurses and physicians when patients were admitted post operatively to the surgical unit. Covariates included age, sex, length of stay, delay to surgery, number of medical comorbidities, number of medications and hip fracture location, and were extracted from medical records. Baseline mobility and functional status, preoperative cognitive impairment, postoperative complications, regular psychotropic medications, psychotropic medications in hospital, and location of discharge were also assessed through chart review.

The results demonstrated that 17.5% of participants with a diagnosis of delirium had a longer length of hospitalization (p = 0.01), a lower baseline functional status (p = 0.03) and pre-operative cognitive impairment (p = 0.01). Patients receiving new psychotropic medications in hospital were more likely to have delirium (OR = 4.6, p = 0.01) which was independent of pre-operative cognitive impairment.

We have shown that an association exists between psychotropic medication prescription and incident delirium in patients with hip fractures, even when adjusting for cognitive impairment. Hence, the prescription of psychotropic drugs should be judicious in these patients so as minimize the risk of adverse outcomes.