SynthesisEuropean respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society2025
Five-decade prevalence of delirium in pneumonia, risk factors and associated mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- A Personalized, Symptom-Based Approach to Boost Research Participation in Hospitalized Older Adults.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2026Article
- From Sensory Deprivation to Psychosis: Environmental Mechanisms of Delirium in Dementia-An Eight-Year Retrospective Longitudinal Case Report and Narrative Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- COVID-19 infections and cognitive impairment: mechanisms and perspectives.Breathe (Sheffield, England) · 2026Article
- Reducing the complications from community acquired pneumonia: a review.Journal of thoracic disease · 2026Review
- Chlamydia Abortus-Induced Pneumonia with Psychiatric Symptoms and Pneumomediastinum: A Case Report.Infection and drug resistance · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDelirium can occur in patients with pneumonia, but its prevalence is inconsistent across studies. Unreliable estimates and uncertainty regarding the significance of patient-specific
methodsWe searched five databases (Medline, Cochrane Library, Embase, PsycINFO and Scopus), from inception to 6 August 2024. We included studies in adults hospitalised with pneumonia reporting delirium, encephalopathy or altered mental status. Two investigators extracted data and assessed risk of bias. Summary rates were calculated using random-effects models. We performed prespecified analyses for diagnostic methods, microbiologic factors, clinical factors and mortality, with sensitivity analysis among studies at low risk of bias. The review protocol was registered with PROSPERO: CRD42023385571.
resultsDelirium prevalence across 126 studies was 22% (95% CI 18-26%) and higher in studies at low risk of bias (40%, 95% CI 24%-58%; n=11). Standardised assessments yielded higher rates than symptom- or International Classification of Diseases code-based assessments (p<0.05). Surprisingly, delirium rates did not differ by microbiological aetiology (p
interpretationDelirium is highly prevalent and enduring in pneumonia, with nearly double the estimated prevalence when standardised diagnostic methods for both pneumonia and delirium are used. Our results emphasise patient- and care-related factors over microbiological causes, including COVID-19. Delirium's entrenched association with mortality, even considering covariates, reinforces the need to manage delirium as a convergent syndrome in pneumonia.
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