RATING THE SEVERITY OF DELIRIUM - THE DELIRIUM ASSESSMENT SCALE

Explicit operational definitions of the DSM-3 criteria for delirium ha ve recently been published. In this study, the reliability of the Deli rium Assessment Scale (DAS), which uses the operationalized criteria t o determine the severity of delirium symptoms, was examined. Three ind ependent assessors examined four groups of patients - patients with de lirium, patients with delirium and dementia, patients with dementia al one and patients without cognitive impairment. Sensitivity (83-88%) an d specificity (79-88%) of the operationalized definitions for the diag nosis of delirium were high. Satisfactory interrater agreement was obt ained for all individual symptoms of the DAS (kappa = 0.66-0.99). Thes e results suggest that the DAS may be suitable for monitoring the seve rity of delirium; prospective studies are required to confirm this hyp othesis.