Consultation-Liaison psychiatry in a high-complexity university hospital in Turin, Italy: an observational study with a focus on delirium and predictive factors of clinical outcome

Background and aim This observational study aims to provide an overview of consultation-liaison psychiatry (CLP) activity within the high-intensity, complex hospital setting of the 'Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Città della Salute e della Scienza' in Turin. The study is mainly focused on delirium-related features and predictive factors of clinical outcome.

Method A retrospective analysis was conducted on 500 psychiatric consultations provided by the University Facility of Psychiatry. Additional analysis was performed in a subgroup of patients with a diagnosis of delirium (143 subjects).

The Delirium Rating Scale-Revised-98 (DRS-R-98) was administered at the time of consultation (T0) and 1 week later (T1). Descriptive statistics were performed on the whole sample.

In the subgroup of patients with delirium, linear regression for continuous variables and one-way analysis of variance for categorical variables were conducted. Stepwise multiple regression was performed with DRS-R-98 (difference of DRS-R-98 score between T0 and T1) as the dependent variable.

Results The majority of requests for consultation came from the internal medicine department or from orthopaedic and trauma units and concerned male patients with a positive history of psychiatric disorders.