Which medications to avoid in people at risk of delirium: a systematic review

Abstract

for people at risk of delirium, avoid new prescriptions of benzodiazepines or consider reducing or stopping these medications where possible. Opioids should be prescribed with caution in people at risk of delirium, but this should be tempered by the observation that untreated severe pain can itself trigger delirium. Caution is also required when prescribing dihydropyridines and antihistamine H1 antagonists for people at risk of delirium and considered individual patient assessment is advocated.

Patterns of psychotropic prescribing and polypharmacy in older hospitalized patients in Ireland: the influence of dementia on prescribing

“…Deliriogenic medication definition was based on published literature, decided upon by consensus between the study pharmacist (KAW) and two consultant geriatricians (ST, NOR) who are delirium experts. The included deliriogenic medications were predominantly in line with findings from a systematic review conducted by Clegg et al which investigated the associations between medications and risk of delirium (Clegg and Young, 2011). These definitions and the associated ATC codes are shown in Table 1.…”

Delirium in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit

“…Clegg and Young showed that delirium was associated with benzodiazepines (OR 3.0, 95% CI 1.3–6.8) in hospital patients and long‐term care residents 52. Thus, there has been interest in finding alternative sedatives to reduce the incidence of delirium.…”

Delirium in Critically ill Patients in a Tertiary Care Centre in Western Region of Nepal

“…6,12,24,25 Current study did not find a statistically significant increase in risk of occurrence of delirium with use of benzodiazepine (OR= 3.042 95% CI=0.669;13.830) or use of opiates (OR= 0.781 95% CI= 0.1572;3.880) during current admission. This finding should be interpreted with limitation of current study in mind; which is its relatively small size.…”