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Delirium in the Medically Ill Elderly: Operationalizing the DSM-III Criteria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2005

Gary L. Gottlieb
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Jerry Johnson
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Christine Wanich
Affiliation:
School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania and Ralston–Penn Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Eileen Sullivan
Affiliation:
School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania and Ralston–Penn Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

Abstract

This prospective study determined the incidence and prevalence of delirium in 235 consecutive subjects over age 70 admitted to a general medicine hospital service. The DSM-III criteria for delirium were operationalized. Using accepted screening procedures, patients were referred for evaluation by a psychiatrist who determined whether delirium was present by applying explicit operational definitions to each of the DSM-III criteria. Data on presence and severity of each of the DSM-III symptoms were recorded. Analysis of these data indicates that the DSM-III criteria describe a discrete, recognizable syndrome. However, some of the symptoms are more specific than others in identifying the syndrome in this population.

Type
Diagnostic Criteria and Assessment Instruments
Copyright
© 1991 Springer Publishing Company

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