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.

Bladder infection amplifies cognitive problems after traumatic brain injury

A urinary tract infection that follows a moderate brain injury can worsen cognitive problems caused by the injury, new research in mice shows.

19 Aug 2026

UVA researchers find how postoperative delirium may set the stage for dementia

UVA Health researchers have discovered how a form of delirium that often strikes older patients after surgery may set the stage for dementia – and identified a drug that could reverse the underlying brain changes.

18 Aug 2026

ANESTHESIOLOGY 2026 to highlight latest advances in anesthesia care

Ketamine given during C-sections could help ease early symptoms of postpartum depression. Common pain relievers, such as ibuprofen, may reduce the risk of delirium after surgery.

11 Aug 2026

The healthiest super-agers may have one thing in common: stable cognition

A 10-year study of 1,003 older adults linked cognitive super-aging to fewer emergency visits, unplanned hospital admissions, delirium episodes, dementia diagnoses, and residential aged care placements. Maintaining cognitive performance over time showed the strongest overall association with favorable health outcomes and was linked to a 46% lower mortality risk.

5 Aug 2026

High-risk emergency surgery reduces healthy days at home for seniors

Older adults who undergo high-risk emergency general surgery spend significantly fewer days living independently at home after surgery than those undergoing lower-risk procedures, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons (JACS).

14 Jul 2026

GSV hospitals achieve substantially higher delirium screening in older surgical patients

There is a stark gap in how often hospitals screen older adults for postoperative delirium, with verified geriatric surgery programs screening nearly every patient while non-accredited programs screen just half, according to new findings published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

10 Jun 2026

Postoperative delirium serves as strongest predictor of cognitive decline

Researchers found postoperative delirium was strongly associated with long-term cognitive decline and the effect was not explained by rehospitalizations, highlighting the long-term impact of delirium on brain health.

8 Jun 2026

Ibasho concept offers a community-led approach to disaster psychiatry

As disasters increasingly disrupt lives through displacement, conflict, and climate-related emergencies, addressing long-term mental health recovery remains a major challenge.

11 May 2026

Multi-hospital trial explores better sleep strategies for ICU patients

UC San Diego Health has launched a five-year, national multi-site clinical research study aimed at improving sleep and reducing delirium among adults receiving care in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

7 May 2026

PCORI announces new funding for patient-centered clinical effectiveness research

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) today announced new funding to support patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) across a range of health conditions experienced by Americans, along with projects designed to help bring practice-changing CER results into real-world care settings.

28 Apr 2026

Emergency settings more likely to initiate risky medications for seniors

Initial prescriptions for medications affecting cognition, such as antipsychotics, are disproportionately likelier to come from acute and post-acute settings such as emergency rooms, hospitals and skilled nursing facilities than they are from doctors' offices, new UCLA research suggests.

28 Apr 2026

For many patients leaving the ICU, the struggle has only just begun

The accident happened in Pittsburgh on Nov. 16. Joseph Masterson, a lawyer who was just days from retiring at age 63, suffered cardiac arrest while driving, plowed into a guardrail, and lost consciousness.

10 Apr 2026

Hospital delirium associated with increased likelihood of future dementia

Older adults who develop delirium during a hospital admission face a substantially higher risk of dementia in later years, even if they had no prior health conditions, according to a major new population study.

27 Mar 2026

Study identifies early risk factors for progressive supranuclear palsy

Progressive supranuclear palsy, or PSP, is a rare brain disease that causes problems with balance, eye movements and thinking. Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson recently passed away after living with the disease for more than a decade.

24 Mar 2026

Delirium after cardiac procedures carries serious long-term risks

Delirium is a sudden onset of acute confusion in which those affected are disoriented, have impaired attention, and experience altered perception -often accompanied by hallucinations or sleep disturbances.

20 Feb 2026

Study supports safe same-day discharge following TAVI procedures

With careful selection, same-day hospital discharge was found to be feasible and safe in around one-fifth of patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation in a study presented today at the EAPCI Summit 2026.

19 Feb 2026

Dementia Care Aware partners with IHI to advance age-friendly care

Dementia Care Aware (DCA) is collaborating with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) to support its March 2026 Action Community, a community learning experience that helps health systems across the country implement the 4Ms Framework of an Age-Friendly Health System.

10 Feb 2026

Trazodone linked to safer delirium outcomes in older adults

A large U.S. study suggests that older adults hospitalized with delirium may experience better outcomes when treated with trazodone, commonly used to treat depression and sleep problems, rather than commonly used antipsychotic medications.

3 Feb 2026

Vaccines are helping older people more than we knew

Let's be clear: The primary reason to be vaccinated against shingles is that two shots provide at least 90% protection against a painful, blistering disease that a third of Americans will suffer in their lifetimes, one that can cause lingering nerve pain and other nasty long-term consequences.

14 Jan 2026

Acupuncture may help ICU patients recover faster

Acupuncture's multi-pathway effects in ICU patients may reduce complications, support rehabilitation, and improve recovery while minimizing medication use.

6 Jan 2026