Sammanfattning
Methods: Three hundred and nine consecutive patients were screened for delirium, and those
found positive for the same were evaluated by a psychiatrist on DSM-IVTR criteria to confirm the
diagnosis. Those with a diagnosis of delirium were evaluated on the DRS-R-98 to study the
phenomenology and on the amended Delirium Motor Symptom Scale (DMSS) to study the motor sub-
types.
Results: Eighty-one patients were found to have delirium. Commonly seen symptoms of delirium
included: disturbances in sleep-wake cycle, lability of affect, thought abnormality, disturbance in
attention, disorientation, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Very few patients had delusions.
More than half of the participants were categorized as having hyperactive (n = 46; 56.8%) followed by
hypoactive sub-type (n = 21; 26%) and mixed sub-type (n = 9; 11.1%) of delirium. There were minor
differences in the frequency and severity of symptoms of delirium between incidence and prevalence
cases of delirium and those with different motoric sub-types.
Conclusion: Delirium in CCU set-up is characterized by the symptoms of disturbances in sleep-wake
cycle, lability of affect, thought abnormality, disturbance in attention, disorientation, short-term
memory, and long-term memory. Hyperactive delirium is more common than hypoactive delirium.