Delirium Research Paper

Delirium is short-term and reversible, dementia is progressive and irreversible. Delirium is an acute cognitive disturbance and often-reversible condition that is common in hospitalized patients, especially the elderly. It is characterized as a constellation of symptoms rather than a disease state. The symptoms of delirium are an alteration in level of consciousness, as an inability to direct, focus, sustain, and shift attention; an abrupt onset with clinical features that fluctuate, including periods of lucidity. Other symptoms include disorientation, anxiety, agitation, poor memory, delusional thinking, and visual hallucinations. Patients experience delirium as a sudden change in reality with a sense that they are dreaming while awake. They experience dramatic feelings of fear, panic, and anger.
Delirium is always due to underlying physiological causes. There are underlying factors that predispose a patient to develop delirium, which include age, lower education level, sensory impairment, decreased functional status, comorbid medical conditions, malnutrition, and depression. The individual with delirium generally is aware that something is very wrong.
Dementia is a gradual deterioration of function over months or years and is a devastating progressive disease that occurs when brain cells die or no longer function. It is not normal forgetfulness but instead severe memory loss. Dementia is marked by progressive deterioration in cognitive functioning and the ability to solve problems and learn new skills and by a decline in the ability to perform activities of daily living. Alzheimer’s is the most common type of dementia, and usually occurs at the age of 65 or older. Signs and symptoms include impairments in memory, judgment, speech (aphasia), ability to recognize familiar objects
(agnosia), executive functioning (managing daily tasks), and movement (apraxia);