UMEM Educational Pearls

Category: Neurology

Title: Types of Confusion in the Elderly

Keywords: confusion, dementia, delirium, elderly (PubMed Search)

Posted: 6/25/2008 by Aisha Liferidge, MD (Updated: 3/29/2024)
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  • Poor differentiation of the type and cause of confusion in the elderly is associated with poor outcomes (i.e. increased mortality/morbidity, prolonged hospital stays, and functional decline).
  • Confusion in the elderly can be categorized into three types with the following typical features:
  1. Delirium - caused by organic illness, acute onset, agitated or drowsy, variable short-term memory, disorganized thoughts, hallucinations.
  2. Dementia - chronic confusion due to long-term neurologic illness like Alzheimer's disease, progressive, irreversible, short-term memory loss, simple task performance and language impairment, aggression, personality changes.
  3. Acute or Chronic Confusion - treatable illness (i.e. infection) triggers delirium in patient with baseline dementia.