RT Journal
A1 Vasilevskis EE, Ely E
T1 The danger of delirium: Comment on “delirium and long-term cognitive trajectory among persons with dementia”
JF Archives of Internal Medicine
JO Archives of Internal Medicine
YR 2012
FD September 24
VO 172
IS 17
SP 1331
OP 1332
DO 10.1001/archinternmed.2012.3414
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archinternmed.2012.3414
AB 
The long-term effects of hospitalization on cognition are highlighted by a pair of recent studies. In a large prospective community cohort, Ehlenbach et al1 demonstrated a 40% increased risk of incident dementia up to 6 years following hospitalization for a noncritical illness (hazard ratio, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.1-1.7) and an even greater risk among the critically ill (hazard ratio, 2.3; 95% CI, 0.9-5.7). In another cohort of community-dwelling older patients, Wilson et al2 showed that hospitalization was independently associated with a 2.4-fold increase in the rate of global cognitive function decline.