Incidence of Delirium and Its Related Risk Factors Among Patients inCardiac Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

Background: The incidence of delirium in patients who underwent open-heart surgery can causethem to face many short- and long-term complications. Having comprehensive information on theincidence and risk factors of delirium in patients who underwent open-heart surgery is essentialfor preventive care. Owing to the lack of studies in this regard, this study was conducted withthe aim of investigating the incidence of delirium and its associated risk factors among patientsundergoing cardiac surgery in a cardiac intensive care unit. Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted in the cardiac surgery intensivecare unit of Booali Sina Hospital in Qazvin, Iran in 2018. The study sample comprised 230 patientswho underwent open-heart surgery. For data collection, a demographic checklist and the Neelonand Champagne Confusion Scale were used. Data collection started in the evening before cardiacsurgery and continued every day until patients left the intensive care unit. Collected data werethen analyzed using descriptive tests and a nonlinear logistic regression model by StatisticalPackage for the Social Sciences, version 23. Results: Of all the patients who participated in this study, 53.5% showed some degree of delirium;17 patients (7.4%) showed symptoms of moderate-to-severe delirium, 16 patients (7%) showedsymptoms of mild delirium, and 90 patients (39.1%) developed confusion. Among the variablesstudied in this study, older age, history of renal diseases, history of stroke, the use of intraoper ative cardiopulmonary bypass, clamp time, postoperative fibrillation, and postoperative strokesignificantly predicted delirium (P < .05). Conclusion: More than half of the patients reported some degree of delirium. Therefore, it is nec essary to take preventive measures into consideration in this regard.