Background: Delirium is an acute disorder of attention, perception,
memory, thought, mood, psychomotor activity and sleep-wake cycle that
develops intermittently during the day. It is commonly seen in
hospitalized elderly patients. Delirium is also a common clinical
picture in patients hospitalized in intensive care units due to COVID-19
pneumonia. In this study, we reviewed clinical features and predisposing
factors of delirium according to psychomotor subtypes in patients
hospitalized in the ICU due to COVID-19 pneumonia. Methods: 64 patients
who were hospitalized in the ICU due to COVID-19 pneumonia were
included. Delirium status and psychomotor subtypes were determined by
applying the CAM-ICU scale to the patients daily. The gender, age,
comorbidity, treatments, intubation and mortality rates of the patients
were recorded. Multivariate analyzes were performed by examining
predisposing factors, arterial blood gases, hemogram, biochemistry and
brain MRI imaging. A value of p<0.05 was considered to be
statistically significant. Results: It was found that, the need for
intensive care, male gender, advanced age, hypertension, dementia,
coronary artery disease were significant risk factors for delirium, in
COVID-19 pneumonia. In particular, it was found that the mortality rate
was significantly higher in patients with hypokinetic delirium compared
to those with hyperkinetic delirium (p=0.035). Conclusion: In this
study, it was found that advanced age, male gender, the presence of
additional diseases such as hypertension, coronary artery disease, and
dementia, and hypoxia are factors that increase the frequency of
delirium. It was observed that mortality was higher in male gender and
patients with hypokinetic delirium. Keywords: COVID-19, pneumonia,
delirium, mortality
