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Patients who develop delirium in a general hospital ward are 50% more likely to die in the following year compared to those who do not experience delirium. When delirium develops after surgery, cognitive impairment can last up to a year. Obviously, a prevention strategy is worth considering, as long as the strategy itself doesn’t carry too much risk.
Hi! Jim Phelps here for the Psychopharmacology Institute. You’re surely aware of the use of quetiapine for the treatment of developing delirium, but here is a look at a randomized trial of quetiapine as a delirium prevention strategy.
First, let’s review delirium risk factors and management strategies. According to a recent Lancet review, delirium results from an interaction between a patient’s vulnerability at admission and noxious insults occurring during hospitalization. Surgery is a noxious insult, and it’s often unavoidable, but other insults include adding multiple medications of any kind in a short
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