Delirium in cancer patients admitted to the intensive care unit: a retrospective study

OBJECTIVE: To describe the occurrence of delirium in cancer patients admitted to the intensive care unit according to clinical and demographic characteristics. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted with 135 adults admitted to the intensive care unit of a public cancer hospital in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between January and March 2016. Fisher's exact test and the linear association test were used to identify statistically significant associations between the occurrence of delirium and categorical and ordinal variables, respectively, considering a p-value < 0.05. RESULTS: The overall occurrence of delirium was 39.3%. Delirium was more frequent among individuals aged 60 years or older and those who required extensive assistance or were bedbound, were admitted to the intensive care unit for clinical reasons, were using sedative drugs, were undergoing chemotherapy, and those who remained 8 or more days in the intensive care unit. Considering only patients on mechanical ventilation, the overall occurrence of delirium was 64.6%, and only a length of stay in the intensive care unit ≥ 8 days showed a statistically significant association with delirium. CONCLUSION: The occurrence of delirium in critically ill cancer patients is high. When only those on mechanical ventilation are considered, the occurrence of delirium is even greater.