Prognosis of delirium in stroke

Although common in people after stroke, the effect of delirium on clinical outcomes in the long term has been poorly studied.² To address this deficit, the PROPOLIS study (prospective observational Polish study) followed a large group of people (n=682) after stroke, and studied the effect of delirium on discharge destination, recurrence of stroke, cardiovascular events, functional status, nursing home admission, and death.² After correcting for several potential confounding factors (because delirium could be a proxy for severe illness), the rates of mortality – both at 3- and 12-months – were greater among people who had experienced delirium compared with those who had not, increasing the mortality rate by 2–3 times.²

References:
1. Shi Q, Presutti R, Selchen D, Saposnik G. Delirium in acute stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Stroke 2012; 43 (3): 645–649.

2. Pasińska P, Wilk A, Kowalska K, et al. The long-term prognosis of patients with delirium in the acute phase of stroke: PRospective Observational POLIsh Study (PROPOLIS). J Neurol 2019; 266 (11): 2710–2717.

3. Rollo E, Brunetti V, Scala I, et al. Impact of delirium on the outcome of stroke: a prospective, observational, cohort study. J Neurol 2022; 269 (12): 6467–6475.