Perioperative medicine & outcomes
Data-driven subtypes of postoperative delirium in surgical ICU patients: a secondary analysis of a prospective cohort study
Authors' conclusion
This study identified three data-driven risk-profile-based subtypes of POD that differed in delirium features and clinical outcomes.
Study context
- Population
- Adult surgical ICU patients who developed postoperative delirium (POD)
- Participants
- 298 patients
- Comparison
- Data-driven POD subtypes
- Subtype 1n = 120
- Subtype 2n = 104
- Subtype 3n = 74
Methodological detailsexploratory, latent class analysis
- Exploratory
- Latent class analysis
Primary result
As reported in the abstract
Risk-profile-based POD subtypes
| Group | Value | Intraoperative blood loss, median | Perioperative blood transfusion | Age, mean | Urgent surgery | Procalcitonin, median | Oxygenation index, median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subtype 1 | 40.3% | 500 mL | 74.2% | ||||
| Subtype 2 | 34.9% | 70.0 years | |||||
| Subtype 3 | 24.8% | 71.6% | 28.1 ng/mL | 235 |
Value
Subtype 140.3%
Subtype 234.9%
Subtype 324.8%
Intraoperative blood loss, median
Subtype 1500 mL
Subtype 2— not stated in the abstract
Subtype 3— not stated in the abstract
Perioperative blood transfusion
Subtype 174.2%
Subtype 2— not stated in the abstract
Subtype 3— not stated in the abstract
Age, mean
Subtype 1— not stated in the abstract
Subtype 270.0 years
Subtype 3— not stated in the abstract
Urgent surgery
Subtype 1— not stated in the abstract
Subtype 2— not stated in the abstract
Subtype 371.6%
Procalcitonin, median
Subtype 1— not stated in the abstract
Subtype 2— not stated in the abstract
Subtype 328.1 ng/mL
Oxygenation index, median
Subtype 1— not stated in the abstract
Subtype 2— not stated in the abstract
Subtype 3235
Further findings
| Outcome | Subtype 3 |
|---|---|
| Delirium features | median 3 days |
| Delirium recurrence | 13.5% |
| Mechanical ventilation at first delirium identification | 67.6% |
| Clinical outcomesDescriptive differences | |
| In-hospital mortality | 18.2% |
Delirium features
- Delirium duration longest and recurrence and mechanical ventilation proportions highest in subtype 3
Clinical outcomes
- Subtype 3 highest in-hospital mortality; subtype 2 most favourable short-term outcomes; subtype 1 highest hospitalisation costs
- Not all between-subtype differences remained significant in adjusted sensitivity analyses
Original publication
Data-driven subtypes of postoperative delirium in surgical ICU patients: a secondary analysis of a prospective cohort study. Anaesth Crit Care Pain Med. Published 13 July 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →