Delirium News and Research

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Delirium is a mental state in which a person is confused, disoriented, and not able to think or remember clearly. The person may also be agitated and have hallucinations, and extreme excitement.

Rowan receives $2.55 million HRSA grant to create New Jersey Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program

Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine has received a three-year, $2.55 million dollar grant from the Health Resources Services Administration to establish the New Jersey Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program (NJGWEP).

28 Jul 2015

Inflammation plays role in onset of delirium in older adults

Delirium is an acute state of confusion that often affects older adults following surgery or serious illness. Now a study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center confirms that inflammation - an immune response that develops when the body attempts to protect itself from harmful stimuli -- plays a role in the onset of delirium.

28 Jul 2015

Researchers identify barriers and possible catalysts to delirium detection in emergency department

An estimated one to two million older adults with delirium visit hospital emergency departments in the United States annually. Yet about two-thirds of the cases of this sudden and potentially lethal change in mental status are unrecognized by emergency department clinicians who are under time pressure and almost always managing multiple patients at once.

24 Jul 2015

SLU researcher awarded NIH's Cutting-Edge Basic Research Award to solve pain-killer problem

SLU pain researcher Daniela Salvemini has been awarded the NIH's Cutting-Edge Basic Research Award (CEBRA) to solve an alarming problem: pain killers that are capable of quelling terrible pain also carry debilitating side effects and significant risk of addiction.

16 Jul 2015

Envarsus XR receives FDA approval for treatment of kidney transplant recipients

Veloxis Pharmaceuticals A/S today announced U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of Envarsus XR (tacrolimus extended-release tablets) for the prophylaxis of rejection in kidney transplant patients who require or desire conversion from other twice-daily tacrolimus products to once-daily Envarsus XR.

11 Jul 2015

Hospital-wide clinical improvement initiative for patients at risk for DASH reduces readmission rates

Brigham and Women's Hospital finds that developing and implementing an interdisciplinary care improvement initiative improves outcomes.

1 Jul 2015

Delirium in ICU associated with lengthier hospital stays and greater risk of death

About one-third of patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) will develop delirium, a condition that lengthens hospital stays and substantially increases one's risk of dying in the hospital, according to a new study led by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers appearing in the British Medical Journal.

4 Jun 2015

One-quarter of Americans over age 65 at risk to become elder orphans

With an aging Baby Boomer population and increasing numbers of childless and unmarried seniors, nearly one-quarter of Americans over age 65 are currently or at risk to become "elder orphans," a vulnerable group requiring greater awareness and advocacy efforts, according to new research by a North Shore-LIJ geriatrician and palliative care physician.

18 May 2015

Patients with traumatic brain injuries need effective cognitive neuroscience-based therapies

Patients with traumatic brain injuries are not benefiting from recent advances in cognitive neuroscience research - and they should be, scientists report in a special issue of Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences.

30 Apr 2015

Understanding how nerve cells in the brain produce energy required to function

New research published today in the journal Nature Communications represents a potentially fundamental shift in our understanding of how nerve cells in the brain generate the energy needed to function. The study shows neurons are more independent than previously believed and this research has implications for a range of neurological disorders.

25 Apr 2015

French clinicians diagnose first case of rabies since 2003

A team of French clinicians has diagnosed the first case of rabies in that country since 2003. Only 20 cases of human rabies had been diagnosed in France between 1970 and 2003. Moreover, the patient was unaware of having been bitten.

22 Apr 2015

New website provides information to help lower anxiety before outpatient surgery in children

A newly developed website provides parents and children with individualized information and support -- based on factors like coping style and levels of worry and fear -- to help lower anxiety before outpatient surgery in children, according to a pair of articles in the April issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia.

6 Apr 2015

Geriatric consultation could improve care for elderly patients admitted for traumatic injuries

Elderly patients who are admitted to the hospital for monitoring and surgical treatment of traumatic injuries could have better geriatric care if medical teams took one extra step—offering geriatric consultation, according to new research findings from surgical and geriatric medicine teams at the Ronald Reagan University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center.

19 Feb 2015

Scientists find eight different types of schizophrenia

Scientists from the universities of Granada (Spain) and Washington in St Louis (US) have found that there is not a single type of schizophrenia, but that it consists of a group made up of eight genetically different types of diseases, each of which presents its own set of symptoms.

4 Feb 2015

Alzheimer's drug Aricept (donepezil) linked to serious side effects

New warnings have been added to the prescribing information for the Alzheimer's drug Aricept (donepezil) advising of the risk of two rare but potentially serious conditions: muscle breakdown (rhabdomyolysis) and a neurological disorder called neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS).

21 Jan 2015

FDA approves RYTARY for Parkinson's disease treatment

Impax Pharmaceuticals, a division of Impax Laboratories, Inc., today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved RYTARY, an extended-release oral capsule formulation of carbidopa-levodopa, for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, post-encephalitic parkinsonism, and parkinsonism that may follow carbon monoxide intoxication and / or manganese intoxication.

8 Jan 2015

New guideline now available to help prevent, treat delirium in older patients

A new guideline is available to help health care providers prevent and treat one of the most common postoperative complications in older patients, delirium, which is an episode of sudden confusion.

27 Nov 2014

BIDMC investigators develop three-minute assessment that identifies delirium in older hospital patients

Delirium is a state of confusion that develops suddenly, often following an acute medical illness, a surgical procedure or a hospitalization. Although delirium is estimated to complicate hospital stays for over 2.5 million elderly individuals in the U.S. each year, this common condition often goes undetected. The end result can be serious complications with sometimes devastating consequences for vulnerable hospitalized elders.

21 Oct 2014

Research roundup: Malpractice reforms and doctors' practice; Medicaid expansion's effect

Defensive medicine is considered by many to be a major source of wasteful medical spending in the United States.

17 Oct 2014

Study: Nursing home care quality not associated with risk of hospital readmission or death

Nursing home care quality does not impact the likelihood of patients being readmitted to the hospital or dying within 30 days of discharge from hospital to nursing home, according to a new analysis of Medicare data and nursing home performance measures by Penn Medicine researchers.

16 Oct 2014