INVESTIGATING THE CAUSES OF DELIRIUM: A BEHAVIOR ALTERATION WITH ORGANIC ORIGIN

Abstract

Delirium can be defined as a neurocognitive disorder, a behavioral change of organic origin. It has an acute onset and is more prevalent in the elderly, although it is not exclusive to this age group. The clinic of this disease has four cardinal characteristics: alteration in the level of consciousness, some cognitive alteration, it has a limited course and it has an organic cause. There are also three classifications for the course of the disease: hyperactive, hypoactive and mixed. Although the diagnosis of hyperactive delirium is a little more alarming, the prevalence of hypoactive cases is higher among affected individuals. Similar to other neurocognitive conditions, it also requires an advanced practical level from the physician who identifies and treats the disease. Therefore, this narrative literature review gathered articles from the main databases in order to investigate in the selected literature what are the main causes of delirium. It was concluded that the main causes are intracranial. However, biological causes such as postoperative patients or victims of infections have a high correlation. In addition, the use of drugs with a cholinergic effect, withdrawal states or environmental stress in already compromised patients are also relevant causative factors.