Table 1 Clinical and physiologic similarities shared by delirium and sleep disruption
From: Bench-to-bedside review: Delirium in ICU patients - importance of sleep deprivation
Clinical features |
|---|
   Inattention |
   Fluctuating mental status |
   Impaired cognition, specifically those relating to executive function (memory, planning, creative thinking, judgment) |
   Delayed recovery after the insult is removed |
Risk factors |
   Intensive care unit admission |
   Mechanical ventilation |
   Pain |
   Stress |
   Pre-existing cognitive impairment |
   Advanced age |
   Alcoholism |
   Depression |
   Sepsis |
   Head trauma |
   Medications |
Sedatives, especially γ-aminobutyric acid agonists such as benzodiazepines |
Anticholinergics |
Sympathomimetics |
Corticosteroids |
Anticonvulsants |
Pathophysiology |
   Cholinergic deficiency |
   Dopaminergic excess |
   Altered metabolism at specific regions of the central nervous system |
Prefrontal cortex |
Posterior parietal cortex |