Clinical Medicine Research

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Surviving Confusion- Differences in Survival among Older African Americans and Whites Hospitalized with Delirium Diagnoses in the United States

Received: 22 April 2014    Accepted: 22 May 2014    Published: 10 June 2014
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Abstract

Background: Little is known regarding in-hospital mortality for older African Americans hospitalized with delirium diagnoses. Objectives: To estimate the in-hospital mortality for older African Americans hospitalized with delirium diagnoses based on a national representative sample; differences in this outcome and other determinants of morbidity (i.e. length of stay) between well studied populations (non-Hispanic Whites) and African Americans was also the focus. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Database of hospital discharges from the 2006 Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), a subset of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Participants: Represented 54,003 hospital discharges for those 65 years old and above, both African Americans and non-Hispanic Whites discharged from US hospitals. Key Outcomes: In-hospital mortality and length of stay. Results: Among delirious patients, African Americans had a longer mean length of stay (LOS) than non-Hispanic Whites (7.8 vs. 7.3 days, p=0.005). A larger percentage of non-Hispanic White patients (7.4%) compared to African American patients (6.6%) died during their stay in the hospital, however this was not statistically significant (p=0.076). Limitations: Suspected under-detection of delirium by providers and the subsequent diminished diagnostic capture by evidence of paid billing claims. Conclusion: The in-hospital mortality rate for non-Hispanic White patients hospitalized with diagnoses of delirium was also significantly less than that found in other studies (7.3 vs. 9%) indicating that detection of delirium and its subsequent diagnostic capture in these claims data may have been very low. The most likely explanation is that determining mortality estimates for an already under-diagnosed syndrome based on claims diagnostic data may be suboptimal. Alternatively, these results may indicate that delirium is profoundly under-diagnosed in elderly hospitalized African Americans as compared to their non-Hispanic White counterparts.

DOI 10.11648/j.cmr.20140303.14
Published in Clinical Medicine Research (Volume 3, Issue 3, May 2014)
Page(s) 68-73
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Vulnerable Populations, Delirium, Disparities

References
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[6] S. K. Inouye, C. H. Van Dyck, C. A. Alessi, S. Balkin, A. P. Siegal et al Clarifying confusion: the confusion assessment method. A new method for detection of delirium in hospitalized older patients The New England journal of medicine 1990 vol. 113, no.12, pp. 941-948.
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[9] Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). DATA USE AGREEMENT for the Nationwide Inpatient Sample from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (Version)Revised 6-25-08:1-4 (online). Avail-able at: www.ahrq.gov/data/hcup/. Accessed February 21, 2011.
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[15] A. Edlund, M. Lundström, S. Karlsson, B. Brännström G. Bucht et al Delirium in older patients admitted to general internal medicine Jour-nal of geriatric psychiatry and neurology 2006 vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 83-90.
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Author Information
  • Dept. of Family Medicine & National Center for Primary Care (NCPC), Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta GA, USA

  • Community Health & Preventive Medicine & NCPC, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta GA, USA

  • Dept. of Medicine, Chief of Neurology, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta GA, USA

  • National Center for Primary Care & Dept. of Family Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta GA, USA

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  • APA Style

    Stephanie Lynn Garrett, Peter T. Baltrus, Patrick A. Griffith, George Staben Rust. (2014). Surviving Confusion- Differences in Survival among Older African Americans and Whites Hospitalized with Delirium Diagnoses in the United States. Clinical Medicine Research, 3(3), 68-73. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cmr.20140303.14

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    ACS Style

    Stephanie Lynn Garrett; Peter T. Baltrus; Patrick A. Griffith; George Staben Rust. Surviving Confusion- Differences in Survival among Older African Americans and Whites Hospitalized with Delirium Diagnoses in the United States. Clin. Med. Res. 2014, 3(3), 68-73. doi: 10.11648/j.cmr.20140303.14

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    AMA Style

    Stephanie Lynn Garrett, Peter T. Baltrus, Patrick A. Griffith, George Staben Rust. Surviving Confusion- Differences in Survival among Older African Americans and Whites Hospitalized with Delirium Diagnoses in the United States. Clin Med Res. 2014;3(3):68-73. doi: 10.11648/j.cmr.20140303.14

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  • @article{10.11648/j.cmr.20140303.14,
      author = {Stephanie Lynn Garrett and Peter T. Baltrus and Patrick A. Griffith and George Staben Rust},
      title = {Surviving Confusion- Differences in Survival among Older African Americans and Whites Hospitalized with Delirium Diagnoses in the United States},
      journal = {Clinical Medicine Research},
      volume = {3},
      number = {3},
      pages = {68-73},
      doi = {10.11648/j.cmr.20140303.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cmr.20140303.14},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.cmr.20140303.14},
      abstract = {Background: Little is known regarding in-hospital mortality for older African Americans hospitalized with delirium diagnoses. Objectives: To estimate the in-hospital mortality for older African Americans hospitalized with delirium diagnoses based on a national representative sample; differences in this outcome and other determinants of morbidity (i.e. length of stay) between well studied populations (non-Hispanic Whites) and African Americans was also the focus. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Database of hospital discharges from the 2006 Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), a subset of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Participants: Represented 54,003 hospital discharges for those 65 years old and above, both African Americans and non-Hispanic Whites discharged from US hospitals. Key Outcomes: In-hospital mortality and length of stay. Results: Among delirious patients, African Americans had a longer mean length of stay (LOS) than non-Hispanic Whites (7.8 vs. 7.3 days, p=0.005). A larger percentage of non-Hispanic White patients (7.4%) compared to African American patients (6.6%) died during their stay in the hospital, however this was not statistically significant (p=0.076). Limitations: Suspected under-detection of delirium by providers and the subsequent diminished diagnostic capture by evidence of paid billing claims. Conclusion: The in-hospital mortality rate for non-Hispanic White patients hospitalized with diagnoses of delirium was also significantly less than that found in other studies (7.3 vs. 9%) indicating that detection of delirium and its subsequent diagnostic capture in these claims data may have been very low. The most likely explanation is that determining mortality estimates for an already under-diagnosed syndrome based on claims diagnostic data may be suboptimal. Alternatively, these results may indicate that delirium is profoundly under-diagnosed in elderly hospitalized African Americans as compared to their non-Hispanic White counterparts.},
     year = {2014}
    }
    

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    AB  - Background: Little is known regarding in-hospital mortality for older African Americans hospitalized with delirium diagnoses. Objectives: To estimate the in-hospital mortality for older African Americans hospitalized with delirium diagnoses based on a national representative sample; differences in this outcome and other determinants of morbidity (i.e. length of stay) between well studied populations (non-Hispanic Whites) and African Americans was also the focus. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Database of hospital discharges from the 2006 Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), a subset of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Participants: Represented 54,003 hospital discharges for those 65 years old and above, both African Americans and non-Hispanic Whites discharged from US hospitals. Key Outcomes: In-hospital mortality and length of stay. Results: Among delirious patients, African Americans had a longer mean length of stay (LOS) than non-Hispanic Whites (7.8 vs. 7.3 days, p=0.005). A larger percentage of non-Hispanic White patients (7.4%) compared to African American patients (6.6%) died during their stay in the hospital, however this was not statistically significant (p=0.076). Limitations: Suspected under-detection of delirium by providers and the subsequent diminished diagnostic capture by evidence of paid billing claims. Conclusion: The in-hospital mortality rate for non-Hispanic White patients hospitalized with diagnoses of delirium was also significantly less than that found in other studies (7.3 vs. 9%) indicating that detection of delirium and its subsequent diagnostic capture in these claims data may have been very low. The most likely explanation is that determining mortality estimates for an already under-diagnosed syndrome based on claims diagnostic data may be suboptimal. Alternatively, these results may indicate that delirium is profoundly under-diagnosed in elderly hospitalized African Americans as compared to their non-Hispanic White counterparts.
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