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GRADE-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines for Emergency Department Delirium Risk Stratification, Screening, and Brain Imaging in Older Patients With Suspected Delirium
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

GRADE-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines for Emergency Department Delirium Risk Stratification, Screening, and Brain Imaging in Older Patients With Suspected Delirium

Sangil Lee, Danya Khoujah, Debra Eagles, Maura Kennedy, Alexander X Lo, Christian H Nickel, Glenn Arendts, Luna Ragsdale, Justine Seidenfeld, Kerstin de Wit, …
Academic emergency medicine, Vol.33(2), e70167
02/2026
DOI: 10.1111/acem.70167
PMCID: PMC12875304
PMID: 41146403
Appears in  UI Libraries Support Open Access
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https://doi.org/10.1111/acem.70167View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

This portion of the Geriatric Emergency Department (GED) Guidelines 2.0 focuses on delirium in the emergency department (ED). A multidisciplinary group applied the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach to assess the certainty of evidence and develop recommendations related to older ED patients with possible delirium. The GED Guidelines 2.0 Delirium Work Group derived six evidence-based recommendations for risk stratification, diagnosis, and brain imaging. To reduce universal screening, the Delirium Risk Score may be used to identify older adults at low risk for delirium, though the evidence certainty is very low. In adults over 65 admitted to ED observation units, Zucchelli's risk assessment tool (threshold ≥ 4) may stratify delirium risk, also with very low certainty. For adults over 75, the REDEEM Score may be used to identify low- or high-risk individuals, again with very low certainty. For diagnosis, 4AT, bCAM, CAM-ICU, mCAM, AMT-4, or RASS may be used to rule delirium in or out, based on very low certainty. The Delirium Triage Screen (DTS) may be used to rule out, but not to rule in, delirium, also with very low certainty. For diagnostic imaging, there is very low certainty of evidence to recommend for or against obtaining a head CT as part of the evaluation for older ED patients with delirium. All recommendations are conditional, reflecting very low certainty of evidence due to the lack of high-quality ED-based studies and comparative effectiveness research. Rigorous ED-based research is needed to strengthen evidence and guide delirium care for older adults in geriatric emergency medicine.
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