Delirium in children and adolescents.

OBJECTIVE

To study the clinical profile of children and adolescents (< or = 14 years) referred to the Consultation-Liaison (CL) psychiatry services of a Tertiary Care Centre.

DESIGN

Retrospective chart review.

SETTING

Patients seen by the CL psychiatry services of Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh.

PARTICIPANTS

Subjects diagnosed as delirium (as per ICD-10) during their inpatient stay was done.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: phenomenology of delirium and response to treatment.

RESULT: Forty-six children and adolescents were diagnosed as delirium by the psychiatry consultation-liaison team. The most common underlying pathology was infection of various types, followed by neoplasms. All subjects exhibited sleep-wake cycle disturbance and impaired orientation. Other common symptoms were impaired attention (89.5%), impaired short-term memory (84.2%), agitation (68.4%), and lability of affect (60.5%). Delusions and hallucinations were reported by only a few patients. Most of the patients were treated with low dose haloperidol and they responded well.

CONCLUSION

Sleep wake cycle disturbances and cognitive dysfunction are common in children and adolescents with delirium.