노인에서의 약물 유도성 섬망

Drug Induced Delirium in the Elderly

The elderly is accompanied by an increased likelihood of illness, and old people take a disproportionate amount of self-administered and prescribed medications. They are more likely to develop delirium as a result of taking medications than younger patients. Psychoactive drugs such as narcotics, long acting benzodiazepines, and tricyclic antidepressants are important causes of delirium. Drug induced confusion with nonpsychoactive drugs is often idiosyncratic in nature, and the diagnosis is easily missed. Anticholinergic medications are the most common causes of drug induced delirium in the elderly. Successful treatment of delirium depends on identifying the contributing factors, and drugs are the most common reversible cause of delirium. This article provides an clinical approach to prevent, recognize, and manage drug induced delirium.