Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the Acute Confusional Syndrome by the liaison psychiatry service of Hospital del Mar

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a profound worldwide impact on health. Acute Confusional Syndrome (ACS) is the most common neuropsychiatric complication in COVID-19 infection. Objective(s) Describe the characteristics of the admited patients attended by the liaison psychiatry service for acute confusional syndrome during the COVID 19 pandemic. Sociodemographical and clinical variables were descrived. Method(s) We conducted an observational, descriptive study. All patients attended by the liaison psychiatry service of Hospital del Mar, between February and April 2020, with ACS diagnosis were included. Result(s) We included 62 patients with acute confusional syndrom;35 were men (56.5%), and mean age was 71.71 years (standard deviation [SD]11.345). The mean duration of admision stay was 41.19 days [SD 38.039]. The mean number of consultations carried out was 6.5 [SD 5.422]. 52.5% of our sample of our sample had confusional symptoms for 8 days. 50 patients presented complications during admission (80.6%), of which 43 patients developed infectious complications (69.4%). 59 patients had a history of chronic diseases (95.2%). 54 patiens (88.5%) had potencial risk factors associated with acute confusional syndrome including isolation in 24 (39.3%), active infection in 46 (74.2%), hypoxemia in 25 (40.3%), previous cognitive impairment in 15 (24.6%) Conclusion(s) Acute Confusional Syndrome mainly affects people with risk factors such as isolation, active infection and hypoxemia (which in turn are symptoms of Covid-19).