A January 15, 2007 article on ScienceDaily.com tells of recent findings that might point to a correlation between the two conditions. Delirium is a condition with similar symptoms to dementia, like disorientation, hallucination, incoherent speech, anxiety and delusions, among others.
Delirium is a common condition that affects 14 to 56 percent of seniors who are hospitalized in the U.S. This percentage translates to nearly 4 million individuals every year.
Sharon Inouye, MD, MPH, has been studying the condition of delirium for 20 years. As a geriatrician for the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, as well as the Director of the Aging Brain Center at the Institute for Aging Research, Hebrew SeniorLife, she’s seen many cases during her career.
In an interview with Science Daily, she says, “…the more cases I encounter, the more linkages I see with dementia. For a large proportion of older patients, the problem [of delirium] is never resolved. I routinely hear from patients’ families, ‘They went into the hospital, they became very confused, and they never recovered.’”
Findings from last spring’s “Aging Brain Center Scientific Symposium: The Interface of Delirium and Dementia,” are pointing to a possible link. Discussions during the symposium have also led to the speculation that certain anesthetics are linked to delirium, and people with lower education levels are at a higher risk for the condition.
Researchers plan to explore these ideas and the relationship between the two conditions further, with the hope that understanding delirium further may help in the fight against and prevention of dementia and Alzheimer’s.
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