Table 4.
Effects of Clinical Course of Delirium on Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Barthel Index (BI), Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) and Post-discharge Mortality*
| Measure of Clinical Course of Delirium | MMSE (N = 180), Adjusted Mean Difference† (95% CI) | BI (N = 176), Adjusted Mean Difference (95% CI) | IADL (N = 143), Adjusted Mean Difference (95% CI) | 1-year Post-discharge Mortality (N = 180), Adjusted Hazard Ratio‡ (95% CI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Days without cognitive improvement | −0.22 (−0.29 to −0.15) | −0.73 (−1.09 to −0.38) | −0.12 (−0.18 to −0.07) | 1.02 (0.99 to 1.05) |
| Number of delirium days | −0.20 (−0.30 to −0.11) | −1.18 (−1.56 to −0.79) | −0.17 (−0.22 to −0.11) | 1.02 (0.99 to 1.05) |
| Length of 1st delirium episode | −0.16 (−0.26 to −0.06) | −0.93 (−1.31 to −0.54) | −0.15 (−0.20 to −0.09) | 1.01 (0.98 to 1.04) |
| Proportion of days with delirium | −6.72 (−9.29 to −4.15) | −26.55 (−36.35 to −16.75) | −3.75 (−5.21 to −2.28) | 1.98 (0.89 to 4.39) |
| In-hospital course of delirium | ||||
| Transient§ | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 |
| Recovered | 0.87 (−1.06 to 2.80) | −10.68 (−19.76 to −1.61) | −1.36 (−2.63 to −0.08) | 1.62 (0.79 to 3.34) |
| Persistent | −5.31 (−7.54 to −3.07) | −21.90 (−31.11 to −12.70) | −3.40 (−4.71 to −2.09) | 1.63 (0.77 to 3.44) |
All models were adjusted for age, gender, education, marital status, residence, dementia, clinical severity, comorbidity, physiological severity, and incident/prevalent delirium. Models for MMSE and BI were adjusted for the baseline value of the outcome.
Adjusted mean difference for a continuous variable represents the mean change in the outcome for a unit increase in the measure of clinical course of delirium across all follow-up times adjusted for the covariates listed above. For example, for every additional day without cognitive improvement, the MMSE score decreases by 0.2 after taking into account the effect of other covariates. For categorical variables, it represents the mean difference between each group and the reference group, after adjusting for covariates.
Adjusted hazard ratio for a continuous variable represents the increase in the risk of death during the first year after baseline for a unit increase in the measure of clinical course of delirium adjusted for all covariates listed above. For example, for every additional day without cognitive improvement, the risk of dying increases by 1%. For categorical variables, it represents the risk ratio comparing each group with the reference group, after adjusting for covariates.
Reference category.
CI, confidence interval.