Home › Research › Cognitive tests and assessment
Systematic detection and multidisciplinary care of delirium in older medical inpatients: a randomized trial
Cole MG, McCusker J, Bellavance F, Primeau FJ, Bailey RF, Bonnycastle MJ, Laplante J.. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne, 2002-10-01
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Background Delirium is common and often goes undetected in older patients admitted to medical services. We conducted a randomized clinical trial to determine whether systematic detection and multidisciplinary care of delirium in older patients admitted to a general medical service could reduce time to improvement in cognitive status. Methods Consecutive patients aged 65 or more who were newly admitted to 5 general medical units between Mar. 15, 1996, and Jan. 31, 1999, were screened with the Confusion Assessment Method within 24 hours after admission to detect prevalent delirium and rescreened within a week to detect incident cases.
Key findings
- We conducted a randomized clinical trial to determine whether systematic detection and multidisciplinary care of delirium in older patients admitted to a general medical service could reduce time to improvement in cognitive status.
- Methods Consecutive patients aged 65 or more who were newly admitted to 5 general medical units between Mar. 15, 1996, and Jan. 31, 1999, were screened with the Confusion Assessment Method within 24 hours after admission to detect prevalent delirium and rescreened within a week to detect incident cases.
- Patients with delirium were randomly allocated to receive the intervention or usual care.
- Subjects in the intervention group were seen by a geriatric specialist consultant and followed in hospital for up to 8 weeks by an intervention nurse who liaised with the consultant, attending physicians, family and the primary care nurses.
Why it matters
This randomized trial tested whether systematic detection and multidisciplinary care of delirium in older medical inpatients could reduce time to improvement in cognitive status. The provided text does not report the trial's results, so no conclusion can be drawn about whether this approach helps cognition.
Study details
- Participants1,925
- Effect size58.4%; 50.0%; 34.8%
- Evidence strengthHigh
How this study scored 54/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record and senior author's track record, so those were left out: it earned 50 of the 92 points we could judge it on, which is 54 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 5 / 5 | Rated “high” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2002 — older than 20 years, still counted |
| Sample size | 3 / 4 | 1,925 participants |
| Effect reported | 2 / 3 | Effect reported as a number, without an interval or test |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 1 / 2 | Randomised (as stated in the record) |
| Times cited | 5 / 7 | Cited 297 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 3 / 5 | 11.4 citations a year over 26 year(s) since 2002 |
| Impact for its field and year | 4 / 6 | Cited 9.0× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 1 / 4 | Cited 6 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | OpenAlex's profile for last-listed author Johanne Laplante holds only 8 work(s), too few to judge a track record — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | 1 / 3 | McGill University: institution h-index 1,373 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | PubMed indexes it as a multicentre study |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 12389836) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 50 / 92 | Scored on 18 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 50 of the 92 points we could judge it on is 54 out of 100. |
| Total | 54 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. This record has no DOI, so the citation leaves it out. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record names 7 authors; APA and Vancouver show the first six, BibTeX and the downloads carry all of them. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Cole, M. G., McCusker, J., Bellavance, F., Primeau, F. J., Bailey, R. F., Bonnycastle, M. J., et al. (2002). Systematic detection and multidisciplinary care of delirium in older medical inpatients: a randomized trial. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne.
Vancouver
Cole MG, McCusker J, Bellavance F, Primeau FJ, Bailey RF, Bonnycastle MJ, et al. Systematic detection and multidisciplinary care of delirium in older medical inpatients: a randomized trial. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne. 2002. PMID: 12389836.
BibTeX
@article{cole2002-12389836,
author = {Cole, M. G. and McCusker, J. and Bellavance, F. and Primeau, F. J. and Bailey, R. F. and Bonnycastle, M. J. and Laplante, J.},
title = {{Systematic detection and multidisciplinary care of delirium in older medical inpatients: a randomized trial}},
journal = {CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne},
year = {2002},
pmid = {12389836}
}
Related studies in Cognitive tests and assessment
Also tagged “delirium”
858 studies in the library carry the topic tag “delirium”; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed, alphabetical-by-hash tour of them, not the closest in content. All 858 tagged studies.