Pre-existing cognitive impairment and admission AMTS are strong predictors of delirium. Despite this, formal cognitive assessment is not routinely carried out in elderly medical patients. Recognition of delirium may be improved by routine cognitive assessment in elderly medical patients.

Background: Orthostatic hypotension (OH) is common in older adults with reported prevalence rates of 5-40%. A direct link between OH and cognitive performance has been proposed due to impaired vascular autoregulation. Aim: To systematically assess the literature of the association between OH and cognitive performance in older adults. Methods: Literature search of MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and PsycINFO from inception to May 2017. Studies were included if OH and cognition were assessed in subjects of mean or median age ≥65 years. Risk of bias was assessed with the Newcastle Ottawa Scale. Results: Of 3266 studies screened, 32 studies (22 cross-sectional; 10 longitudinal) reporting data of 28,980 individuals were included. OH prevalence ranged from 3.3% to 58%. Of the 32 studies, 18 reported an association between OH and worse cognitive performance and 14 reported no association. Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) was the most commonly used cognitive assessment tool. Studies using more than one cognitive assessment tool were more likely to find an association between OH and worse cognition. OH was significantly associated with a lower MMSE mean score (mean difference − 0.51 (95% CI: −0.85, −0.17, p = 0.003)) and an increased risk of cognitive impairment (OR 1.19 (95% CI, 1.00-1.42, p = 0.048)). Conclusions: OH is common in older populations and is associated with worse cognition expressed as lower MMSE scores. Use of MMSE alone as a cognitive assessment tool may underestimate the association. It is yet unclear whether the association between OH and worse cognitive performance is causative.

Background Initial orthostatic hypotension (OH) is a clinical syndrome of exaggerated transient orthostasis associated with higher risks of falls, frailty and syncope in older adults. Objective To provide a prevalence estimate of initial OH in adults aged 65 years or older. Methods Literature search of MEDLINE (from 1946), Embase (from 1947) and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials was performed until 6 December 2019, using the terms ‘initial orthostatic hypotension’, ‘postural hypotension’ and ‘older adults’. Articles were included if published in English and participants were 65 years or older. Random effects models were used for pooled analysis. Results Of 5,136 articles screened, 13 articles (10 cross-sectional; 3 longitudinal) reporting data of 5,465 individuals (54.5% female) from the general (n = 4,157), geriatric outpatient (n = 1,136), institutionalised (n = 55) and mixed (n = 117) population were included. Blood pressure was measured continuously and intermittently in 11 and 2 studies, respectively. Pooled prevalence of continuously measured initial OH was 29.0% (95% CI: 22.1–36.9%, I2 = 94.6%); 27.8% in the general population (95% CI: 17.9–40.5%, I2 = 96.1%), 35.2% in geriatric outpatients (95% CI: 24.2–48.1%, I2 = 95.3%), 10.0% in institutionalised individuals (95% CI: 2.4–33.1%, I2 = 0%) and 21.4% in the mixed population (95% CI: 7.0–49.6, I2 = 0%). Pooled prevalence of intermittently measured initial OH was 5.6% (95% CI: 1.5–18.9%, I2 = 81.1%); 1.0% in the general population (95% CI: 0.0–23.9%, I2 = 0%) and 7.7% in geriatric outpatients (95% CI: 1.8–27.0%, I2 = 86.7%). Conclusion The prevalence of initial OH is high in older adults, especially in geriatric outpatients. Proper assessment of initial OH requires continuous blood pressure measurements.