Association of ankle brachial index among the elderly with normal cognition, amnestic mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease

inability to communicate and to speak Portuguese. Delirium was operationally defined according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) criteria, assessed by a psychiatrist. All patients were also assessed by the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM). For analysis of differences between the two groups with and without delirium (according DSM IVTR criteria), the Mann–Whitney test for continuous variables was used, at a significance level of 0.05. This was performed using the SPSS 21.0 version. Results: The final sample included 208 elderly patients, with a mean age of 78.3 (sd = 7.8). The majority were female (53.8%), married (53.4%), with low education level (92.4% with 0−4 years), and living with a partner (41.3%) at home (94.7%). The main reasons for admission were cardiovascular (44.3%) and gastrointestinal (20.7%) problems. The average number of comorbidities was 7.3 (sd=3.5) and most of the patients (73%) presented poly-medication major ( 5 medications/day). The occurrence rate of delirium was 25% (n = 53), according to the DSM-IV-TR criteria. In the present study, a significant difference for the length of stay in the IMCU (p< 0.001) was found, with the delirium group presenting the highest duration of hospitalization (median 8 vs. 6 days), which is in line with other previous studies [3]. Conclusion: The present results suggest that the development of delirium in elderly medical patients is associated with an increase in length of hospital stay, which may contribute to an increase in daily hospital costs. In this way, the implementation of interventions to prevent and improve management of delirium should be a priority for clinical services. Further studies will be needed to corroborate these results, and additional outcomes in this clinical syndrome.