Delirium in the ICU: anxiety and depression as possible risk factors in elderly patients

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases, when aggravated, may require special hospital care in Intensive Care Units (ICUs). The characteristics of this unit may potentialize the distancing of the patient from their subjectivity, increasing the vulnerability to the development of delirium – one of the most common syndromes at hospitals, especially in the elderly population. Considering that, 94 patients with ages equal or greater than 60 years old were evaluated with the aim of identifying whether there is a relation between anxiety and depression at the moment of admission into the ICU of a cardiovascular hospital and delirium in the following 48 hours. Both the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Confusional Assessment Method in Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU) were used for the evaluations. In the preliminary results, it was observed a trend that patients with symptoms of anxiety and, especially, depression have a higher probability of developing delirium. Amongst patients with depression, 18,8% presented with delirium, and between those without depression, 4,2%. As for anxiety, 11,1% of those with anxiety had delirium, compared to the 4,1% that did not have anxiety. It can be noted the impact of psychological symptoms on the clinical condition of the patient, considering the association between delirium and unfavorable outcomes.