Korean J Psychopharmacol.  2010 Jul;21(3):150-155.

Phenomenology of Delirium in Cancer Patients and Its Association with Sedative-Hypnotics

• Kim YH
• Kim SW
• Jang JE
• Kim SY
• Shin IS
• Kim JM
• Yoon JS

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
This study explored the phenomenology of delirium in cancer patients, and evaluated the severity of delirium according to the cancer treatment method and the use of sedative-hypnotics, including zolpidem.
METHODS
This was a retrospective chart review study. Cancer patients with delirium, who were referred to the Department of Psychiatry at a National University hospital, were included in the analysis. In all subjects, the severity of delirium was assessed using the Delirium Rating Scale-Revised-98 (DRS-R-98).
RESULTS
The analysis included 112 patients with delirium. Among the neuropsychiatric and behavioral symptoms, the most frequent ones were sleep-wake cycle disturbance (100.0%) and perceptual disturbances and hallucinations (95.5%). Among the cognitive symptoms, inattention (98.2%) was the most frequent. The older the patients were, the higher the DRS-R-98 total scores were. There was no significant difference in the DRS-R-98 scores among cancer treatment methods (operation, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy). However, the total DRS-R-98 scores in the zolpidem use group were higher than in control group, and the difference was significant after adjusting for age, sex, and type of cancer treatment.
CONCLUSION
Sleep-wake cycle disturbance, inattention, and perceptual disturbances were the most common delirium symptoms in cancer patients. The severity of delirium in patients taking zolpidem was significantly greater.

Keyword

Cancer; Delirium; DRS-R-98; Zolpidem; Benzodiazepine

MeSH Terms

Behavioral Symptoms
Benzodiazepines
Delirium
Hallucinations
Humans
Neurobehavioral Manifestations
Pyridines
Retrospective Studies
Benzodiazepines
Pyridines