Delirium occurs more commonly with hip fracture than elective surgery, and frequently has a preoperative onset when associated with trauma. Recommendations are made with the aim of standardizing future research in order to further explore and reduce the heterogeneity and possible publication bias observed.

No abstract

Background:Patients with dementia often receive poor end-of-life care, with inadequate pain control and without access to the palliative care services that patients with cancer are offered. This has been identified as an area of need in recent U.K. Government reports and by the Alzheimer's Society (U.K.). Our objective was to perform a systematic review of the scientific literature regarding the efficacy of a palliative care model in patients with dementia.

The experimental paradigm was feasible and acceptable. Donepezil did not significantly reduce the incidence of delirium or length of hospital stay, however for both outcomes there was a consistent trend suggesting possible benefit. The sample size required for a definitive trial (99% power, alpha 0.05) would be 95 subjects per arm.