Diagnosing delirium in patients with dementia, a great challenge

Delirium, despite its high incidence, serious consequences and potential reversibility, remains an underdiagnosed syndrome. In patients with dementia, the healthcare professional may find significant difficulties in differentiating whether the patient presents cognitive alterations and behavioural disorders characteristic of dementia or, on the contrary, is faced with a delirium superimposed on dementia (DSD). In view of this difficulty, many tools have been proposed in recent years to improve the diagnosis of DSD in these highly complex patients. The aim of these tools is to be easy and quick to apply, and although focusing on assessing cognitive aspects such as attention or level of consciousness, some of them have also incorporated the assessment of other more novel aspects, such as the ability to respond to external stimuli (Arousal) or the degree of mobility.