The Misdiagnosis of Delirium
Abstract
The authors examined the ability of nonpsychiatric house staff to accurately diagnose delirium at the time of consultation. Of 221 consultations over a 5-year period, 46% were misdiagnosed by the house staff. House staff on the general medicine wards and the nonintensive care unit environment did significantly better than those on the surgical wards and intensive care units. Age, gender, and race of the patient did not overall influence incorrect diagnoses; however, when a misdiagnosis occurred, women were more often given a diagnosis of a depressive disorder, whereas men were more often given a "no diagnosis" label. Finally, the consultees improved over an academic year in accurately identifying women as delirious, whereas no such learning curve existed for men.
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Information on relevant diagnoses may not be available for patients who are experiencing mental disorders.
“As a result, information on relevant diagnoses may not be available for patients who are experiencing mental disorders [35].”
From Understanding the Association Between Antidepressants and the Risk of Being Diagnosed with Dementia in Older People: A Self-Controlled Case Series Study (2020) · cites this paper as [35]
Misdiagnosis, both over- and under-diagnosis, for mental disorders is not uncommon.
“However, even if all of these factors are considered, misdiagnosis (both over- and under-diagnosis) for mental disorders is not uncommon [35,36].”
From Understanding the Association Between Antidepressants and the Risk of Being Diagnosed with Dementia in Older People: A Self-Controlled Case Series Study (2020) · cites this paper as [35]
Cites
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Ely, E. W., Inouye, S. K., Bernard, G. R., Gordon, S., Francis, J., May, L., Truman, B., Speroff, T., Gautam, S., Margolin, R., et al. (2001) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.286.21.2703 · Cited by 3,210 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Armstrong, S. C., Cozza, K. L., & Watanabe, K. S.
- Affiliations
- Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (US)
- Corresponding author
- Armstrong, Scott C.
- ORCID
- Cozza, Kelly L.
- Venue
- Psychosomatics
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1997-09
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 433-439
- ISSN
- 0033-3182 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2012829720
- Cited by
- 143
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 2.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychosomatics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine › Intensive Care Unit Cognitive Disorders
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Family Practice › Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Patient Safety and Medication Errors
- Keywords
- delirium, misdiagnosis, house staff, diagnostic accuracy, intensive care unit, surgical wards, sex differences, learning curve
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Delirium, Depressive Disorder, Diagnostic Errors, Female, Humans, Male, Medical Staff, Hospital, Middle Aged, Patient Care Team, Referral and Consultation
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