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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: JAMA Intern Med. 2019 Feb 1;179(2):231–239. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.6975

Table 2.

Most common instruments* used in 228 studies of delirium severity, 1978–2017*

Delirium-Specific Instrument N (%) Used for Diagnosis Used for Severity
Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) or CAM-S 109 48 Y Y
Delirium Rating Scale (DRS) or DRS-R-98 101 44 Y Y
Memorial Delirium Assessment Scale 47 21 Y Y
Delirium Index 20 9 --- Y
Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU) 12 5 Y No, days only
Reversible Cognitive Dysfunction Scale 4 2 Y Y
Delirium Observation Scale 4 2 Y Y
Neelon and Champagne Confusion Scale 3 1 Y Y
Delirium‐O‐Meter 3 1 Y Y
Confusional State Evaluation 2 1 --- Y
Communication Capacity Scale 2 1 --- Y
Agitation Distress Scale 2 1 --- Y
*

Instruments included on this table are delirium-specific measures that cover more than one domain, and appear in more than 1 published study. The following measures were excluded from further review: measures used for diagnosis or screening only (e.g., Delirium Symptom Interview, Delirium Diagnostic Tool-Provisional, Delirium Detection Score, NUDESC, tachistoscope); measures which are single-item ratings of global severity (e.g., Global Clinical Impression - Severity scale, Breitbart’s Clinician’s Global Rating for Delirium); measures that assessed a single domain or feature of delirium (e.g., Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale (RASS), Riker Sedation-Agitation Scale (SAS) , the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), and Fainsinger consciousness score, Observational Scale of Level of Arousal (OSLA), DelAPP, Bush Francis Catatonia Rating Scale (BFCRS), Delirium Motor Subtype Scale (DMSS), and Delirium Motoric Checklist (DMC); measures ratings distress not severity (e.g., Delirium Experience Questionnaire); diagnostic criteria (e.g., DSM, ICD); other measures that were not delirium-specific (e.g., Ease of Ward Management Scale; NCI Common Terminology for Adverse Events); measures that were only used in a single study in the systematic review (e.g., 3DCAM-CAM-S, CAM-ICU-7, Confusion Rating Scale, and Delirium Assessment Scale).