95 5 DELIRIUM | PART THREE Results A total of 574 individual patients were admitted 1733 times during the study period (mean 2.95 admittances per patient, ranging from one to 22 admissions per patient). Sixty delirium episodes were recorded for 52 individual patients, which resulted in a delirium incidence rate of 3.5 per 100 admittances. Nine percent of all patients admitted in this period developed delirium. Patient characteristics Of all 1733 admittances, 1003 admittances (57.9%) were scheduled. The mean age of admitted patients was 60 years (SD 13.1) and 60 percent of the patients were male. Compared with patients who did not develop delirium, patients who developed delirium were significantly older (mean age of 59 versus 67 years respectively (p< .001)), had a worse ECOG performance status at admittance and more often received treatment with palliative intentionorpalliativecareonly.Ninety-fourpercentof thepatientswhodeveloped delirium had an unscheduled admittance, compared to 49 percent of the patients who did not develop delirium (p< .001). In ten of the 730 unscheduled admittances the indication for the admittance was suspected delirium (n = 2), confusion (n = 5), or drowsiness (n = 3). Seven of these patients were diagnosed with delirium in the hospital. Patients with delirium stayed longer in the hospital, and the outcome was worse. In Table 3, these data are shown in detail.
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