Abstract
Objective:
Delirium is a common neuropsychiatric syndrome that involves a number of symptoms including diffuse cognitive impairment, delusions, hallucinations, mood lability and disturbances in sleep-wake cycle. The aim of this article, was to reiew pediatric delirium and its treatment.
Method:
65 articles were found in PubMed when “delirium", “pediatric" and “treatment" were used as the key words and this article was written by summarizing especially the review articles and case reports about pediatric delirium and its treatment.
Results:
The acute psychiatric symptoms and behavior problems in children should be evaluated as delirium until any other diagnosis is put. Because of the serious effects of delirium on the course of main disease, it should be evaluated as a psychiatric emergency, and treatment should be planned according to this perspective. But, as yet, there is not any treatment algorithm about the appropriate medication dosages and specfic treatment protocols.
Discussion:
Because of the negative impact on patient care, mortality and morbidity, early diagnosis and correct treatment of delirium is quite important.
Keywords: Delirium, childhood, adolescent, psychotropic drugs.
