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Symptoms of Delirium Among Elderly Medical Inpatients With or Without Dementia

Received January 16, 2001; revised March 15, 2001; accepted March 24, 2001. From the Departments of Psychiatry (M.G.C.) and Clinical Epidemiology & Community Studies (J.M., N.D., L.H.) St. Mary's Hospital, Montreal; and the Departments of Psychiatry (M.G.C.) and Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics (J.M., N.D., L.H.), McGill University, Montreal. Address correspondence to Dr. Cole, Department of Psychiatry, St. Mary's Hospital Center, 3830 Lacombe Avenue, Room 2508, Montreal, Quebec H3T 1M5, Canada.

This study examined the frequencies of the 10 symptoms of delirium identified in DSM-III-R among patients with delirium (DSM-III-R criteria) who did or did not have dementia. The prevalence of each symptom, the numbers of symptoms, and the combinations of symptoms were determined among 322 elderly medical inpatients classified into one of four groups: delirium and dementia (n=128), delirium only (n=40), dementia only (n=94), or neither (n=60). Symptoms were assessed at the time of diagnosis and independently (by use of a different scale) within 24 hours of diagnosis. Delirium appeared to be phenomenologically similar among patients with and those without dementia, although patients with dementia had more psychomotor agitation at the time of diagnosis and more disorganized thinking and disorientation at the second assessment.

Key Words: Dementia • Delirium • Geriatric Neuropsychiatry

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