When an older adult presents to the emergency
department with confusion, agitation, or other
behavioral changes, the following question
should immediately come to mind: Are these symptoms
due to dementia or delirium? At best, 47% of the time the
patient is correctly diagnosed with delirium, but up to 87%
of the time this diagnosis is missed.1 More disturbing is
that 79% to 90% of these “missed cases” go on to have an
increased risk of morbidity and mortality during the next
12 months.2