Objective:

To describe the suspicion of delirium in older adults hospitalized in internal medicine and the possible risk factors associated to this event.

Materials and method:

Cross-sectional and correlational study through convenience sampling. Forty-nine adults over 70 years hospitalized in internal medicine agreed to participate by signing an informed consent form. We adopted the Nursing Delirium Screening Scale, which measures suspicion of delirium. Descriptive and bivariate analysis was also used.

Results:

The prevalence of suspected delirium among participants was 20.4%. Age was significantly lower in patients who did not present delirium compared to those who showed suspicion (73 vs. 82 years, respectively, p = 0.05). Other variables that showed a similar behavior were the number of comorbidities (1 no delirium vs. 2 suspected, p = 0.037), having suffered from delirium at least once before current hospitalization (1 no delirium vs. 6 suspected, p = 0.000), and no psychoactive history (17 no delirium vs. 3 suspected, p = 0.009). Bivariate analysis reported a possible significant association between delirium and history of diabetes (OR 6.8; CI 95% 1.43-32.19 [p = 0.020]), alcohol consumption (OR 5.2; CI 95% 1.15-23.85 [p = 0.029]), and history of delirium during previous hospitalization (OR 6.3; CI 95% 1.02 - 38.9 [p = 0.000]).

Conclusions:

Delirium is an issue that continues to affect adults, particularly the elderly, who are more vulnerable to suffering this event due to age-related physiological factors.

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