Background: Delirium is one of the most common medical emergencies and\nis associated with poor outcomes including: mortality, prolonged length of\nstay and poor functional outcome. The more severe delirium is the worst the\nclinical outcomes of medical illness. Despite the obvious, not much has been\ndocumented on delirium severity and its associated factors among medical\ninpatients in low income countries including Nigeria. Objectives: This study\nwas conducted to examine the severity of delirium among medical inpatients\nadmitted through the Accident and Emergency unit of Jos University Teaching\nHospital as well as to assess its associated Sociodemographic and Clinical\ncharacteristics. Method: This was a cross-sectional study that employed a\nconsecutive sampling technique to select 290 eligible subjects from medical\ninpatients that presented to Accident and Emergency unit of Jos University\nTeaching Hospital. On admission, patients were assessed for delirium using\nConfusion Assessment Method and severity of delirium was evaluated using\nDelirium Rating Scale-Revised-98. Results: Of the 105 delirious medical inpatients,\n48 (45.7%) had severe delirium, 41 (39.1%) developed less severe delirium\nwhile 16 (15.2) presented with no severe delirium. Sociodemographic\ncharacteristics found to be significantly associated with less to more severe\ndelirium include male gender (P = 0.001), nonprofessionals (P = 0.003), income\nrange of N20,000 - N49,000 (P < 0.001) and being married (P = 0.022).\nHowever, prior cognitive impairment was found to be significantly associated\nwith severe delirium (P < 0.001). Conclusion: This study demonstrates that\ndelirium is often associated with higher severity in Accident and Emergency unit admission and there are strongly associated clinical characteristics to\nwatch out for in high risk medical inpatients.
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