SynthesisAge and ageing2025
Long-term clinical outcomes of delirium after hospital discharge: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Age and ageing, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 27 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Psychosocial coping with intensive care delirium: a mixed-methods systematic review of patient and family perspectives.Critical care (London, England) · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of music therapy on delirium, clinical outcomes, and psychological and sleep outcomes in adult ICU patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Astrocyte-centered temporal resilience at the brain-behavior-immunity interface: sleep-circadian disruption and perioperative cognitive vulnerability in older adults.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Review
- Delirium in Patients With Traumatic Brain Injury and Long-Term Cognitive Decline: A Global Federated Real World Data Analysis.European journal of clinical investigation · 2026Article
- Delirium in the oncology intensive care unit: Risk, recognition, and recovery strategies.World journal of critical care medicine · 2026Review
- CCL2 and CXCL2 are markers of delirium vulnerability in community dwelling older people.Age and ageing · 2026Article
- Long-Term Cognitive and Functional Outcomes of Anesthesia and Surgery in Patients with Dementia.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Understanding the Unique Ethical Challenges in Randomized Controlled Trials of Delirium Interventions for Older Adults: A Rapid Review.Anesthesia and analgesia · 2026Review
- Delirium Among Adults Undergoing Transcatheter Structural Heart Intervention: Incidence, Risk, and Clinical Phenotypes.Catheterization and cardiovascular interventions : official journal of the Society for Cardiac Angiography & Interventions · 2026Article
- Article
- Perioperative interventions in preventing postoperative delirium following orthopaedic surgery in the elderly: a Bayesian network meta-analysis.Journal of orthopaedic translation · 2026Review
- Association of pre- and postoperative delirium with functional status at discharge after hip fracture: findings from the Gruppo Italiano di Ortogeriatria (GIOG 2.0) study.European geriatric medicine · 2026Article
- Delirium: more than a marker of baseline vulnerability.Age and ageing · 2026Article
- Delirium and incident nursing home admission among people with and without dementia.Age and ageing · 2026Article
- Effects of Peri-Operative Glucocorticoids in Hip Fracture Patients on Post-Operative Outcomes: Systematic Review Protocol.Acta anaesthesiologica Scandinavica · 2026Article
- Delirium in older adults in the emergency department: a scoping review of current research and identified knowledge gaps.BMC emergency medicine · 2026Article
- Development of a machine learning-based prediction model for postoperative delirium in frail elderly patients undergoing noncardiac surgery under general anesthesia.European geriatric medicine · 2026Article
- PALLIHIP-study: Spinal Phenol IN Glycerol (SPING-block) in palliative, frail, older adults with a hip fracture: a study protocol.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- 'Just a delirium': a qualitative study of care home managers' perspectives on barriers to delirium recognition and management in UK care homes.Age and ageing · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDelirium has been linked to adverse health outcomes. There has not been a comprehensive attempt to synthesise these outcomes.
objectiveTo synthesise evidence comparing post-discharge clinical outcomes in individuals who experienced delirium in hospital compared to those who did not.
methodsA systematic electronic search was conducted in Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Cochrane databases. Random-effects models were used to assess effect size differences between those who experienced delirium and those who did not: odds ratios (OR) for categorical outcomes and Hedges' g for continuous outcomes. Analyses were conducted for each outcome relative to ≤6 months, >6-12 months, 12+ months and collapsed across time post-discharge.
resultsData were synthesised from 253 studies representing 29 814 participants who experienced delirium and 107 583 participants who did not experience delirium. The mean (SD) age of participants was 76.0 (9.3) years. Collapsed over follow-up period, results included, those who experienced delirium in hospital showed higher objective cognitive decline (OR = 1.58, P < .001), greater subjective cognitive impairment (OR = 2.11, P = .041), greater functional decline (g = -0.43, P = .001), lower quality of life (g = -0.44, P < .001), higher burden of poor mental health (OR = 1.69, P < .001), increased risk of dementia (OR = 5.37, P < .001), higher likelihood of institutionalisation (OR = 2.80, P < .001), greater rates of hospital readmission (OR = 1.70, P < .001) and increased mortality (OR = 2.55, P < .001) post-hospital discharge compared to those who did not experience delirium in hospital. Time-specific analyses did not reveal any consistent patterns of effects.
conclusionsOlder adults who experience delirium in hospital demonstrate significantly worse long-term clinical outcomes compared to those who do not.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.