Summary
Older people in institutional long-term care (LTC) are at high risk of delirium, which is a risk factor for admission to hospital, and is associated with development of dementia, mortality and high healthcare costs. This systematic review the examines the effectiveness of interventions to prevent delirium in LTC. Single- and multi-component non-pharmacological and pharmacological interventions for preventing delirium in older people (aged 65 years and over) in permanent LTC residence are considered.
Only limited evidence has been identified. One large US-based RCT indicates that using an IT-based intervention, and pharmacist review to identify medicines which increase delirium risk, might help to reduce delirium incidence in long-term care.
The authors conclude that more trials are needed to investigate the effectiveness of computerised medication management systems and multi-component methods of non-pharmacological and pharmacological delirium prevention for older people in LTC.
Reference
Clegg, A. Siddiqi, N. [and] Heaven, A. [et al] (2014). Interventions for preventing delirium in older people in institutional long-term care. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, January 31st 2014, Issue 1, No. CD009537. (Click here to view the PubMed abstract).
