Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Crit Care Med. Sep 9, 2026; 15(3): 123279
Published online Sep 9, 2026. doi: 10.5492/wjccm.123279
Published online Sep 9, 2026. doi: 10.5492/wjccm.123279
Incidence and risk factors for delirium in cardiac surgery intensive care unit patients: A single-center study
Fotios Dimitriadis, Christos Kourek, Niki Rouvali, Charalambia Kinti, Mariantzela Mavraki, Magda Georgopoulou, Theodoros Pitsolis, Theodosia Maragkoulia, Kyriaki Kolovou, Giorgos Konstantinou, Theodora Soulele, Michail Zervos, Paraskevi Salata, Dimitrios Elaiopoulos, Dimitra Doubou, Chrysa Panagiotou, Stavros Dimopoulos, Cardiac Surgery Intensive Care Unit, Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Athens 17674, Attikí, Greece
Co-first authors: Fotios Dimitriadis and Christos Kourek.
Author contributions: Dimitriadis F, Kourek C, and Dimopoulos S contributed to the study conception and design; Rouvali N, Kinti C, Mavraki M, Georgopoulou M, Pitsolis T, Maragkoulia T, Kolovou K, Konstantinou G, Soulele T, Zervos M, Salata P, Elaiopoulos D, Doubou D, and Panagiotou C contributed to material preparation, data acquisition, and analysis; Dimitriadis F and Kourek C contributed equally to this study and share first authorship; and all authors contributed to manuscript drafting and critical revision and approved the final version for submission.
AI contribution statement: ChatGPT (OpenAI) was used solely for language editing, including proofreading for spelling, grammar, and syntax. The authors reviewed and approved all revisions and remain fully responsible for the content of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board and Ethics Committee of the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Athens, Greece, Protocol No. 641/14.03.2019.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal representatives when appropriate, provided written informed consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declare that they have no relevant conflicts of interest related to this article.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 Statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 Statement.
Data sharing statement: The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, subject to patient confidentiality and institutional regulations.
Corresponding author: Stavros Dimopoulos, MD, PhD, Cardiac Surgery Intensive Care Unit, Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, 356 Syggrou Av, Athens 17674, Attikí, Greece.
Received: May 15, 2026
Revised: June 28, 2026
Accepted: July 31, 2026
Published online: September 9, 2026
Processing time: 100 Days and 16.8 Hours
Revised: June 28, 2026
Accepted: July 31, 2026
Published online: September 9, 2026
Processing time: 100 Days and 16.8 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: In this prospective single-center study of 202 patients admitted to a cardiac surgery intensive care unit (ICU), delirium occurred in 29.2% during ICU hospitalization. Older age, longer total anesthesia-sedation duration, and higher EuroSCORE II were independently associated with delirium. Patients with delirium also had higher rates of reintubation, ICU-acquired weakness, and hemodialysis, as well as longer mechanical ventilation and ICU stay. These findings support systematic postoperative delirium surveillance in high-risk cardiac surgical patients, while highlighting the need for larger multicenter studies to refine risk assessment and prevention strategies.