Natural language processing diagnosed behavioral disturbance vs confusion assessment method for the intensive care unit: prevalence, patient characteristics, overlap, and association with treatment and outcome

PURPOSE: To compare the prevalence, characteristics, drug treatment for delirium, and outcomes of patients with Natural Language Processing (NLP) diagnosed behavioral disturbance (NLP-Dx-BD) vs Confusion Assessment Method for intensive care unit (CAM-ICU) positivity. METHODS: In three combined medical-surgical ICUs, we obtained data on demographics, treatment with antipsychotic medications, and outcomes. We applied NLP to caregiver progress notes to diagnose behavioral disturbance and analyzed simultaneous CAM-ICU. RESULTS: We assessed 2313 patients with a median lowest Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS) score of − 2 (− 4.0 to − 1.0) and median highest RASS score of 1 (0 to 1). Overall, 1246 (53.9%) patients were NLP-Dx-BD positive (NLP-Dx-BD(pos)) and 578 (25%) were CAM-ICU positive (CAM-ICU(pos)). Among NLP-Dx-BD(pos) patients, 539 (43.3%) were also CAM-ICU(pos). In contrast, among CAM-ICU(pos) patients, 539 (93.3%) were also NLP-Dx-BD(pos). The use of antipsychotic medications was highest in patients in the CAM-ICU(pos) and NLP-Dx-BD(pos) group (24.3%) followed by the CAM-ICU(neg) and NLP-Dx-BD(pos) group (10.5%). In NLP-Dx-BD(neg) patients, antipsychotic medication use was lower at 5.1% for CAM-ICU(pos) and NLP-Dx-BD(neg) patients and 2.3% for CAM-ICU(neg) and NLP-Dx-BD(neg) patients (overall P < 0.001). Regardless of CAM-ICU status, after adjustment and on time-dependent Cox modelling, NLP-Dx-BD was associated with greater antipsychotic medication use. Finally, regardless of CAM-ICU status, NLP-Dx-BD(pos) patients had longer duration of ICU and hospital stay and greater hospital mortality (all P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: More patients were NLP-Dx-BD positive than CAM-ICU positive. NLP-Dx-BD and CAM-ICU assessment describe partly overlapping populations. However, NLP-Dx-BD identifies more patients likely to receive antipsychotic medications. In the absence of NLP-Dx-BD, treatment with antipsychotic medications is rare. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00134-022-06650-z.