[Incidence and prevalence of postoperative acute confusion in heart surgery patients after coronary artery bypass and heart valve replacement surgeries]. / Inzidenz und Prävalenz postoperativer akuter Verwirrtheit kardiochirurgischer Patienten nach Bypassoperationen sowie Herzklappenersatz.

Compared to foreign countries, Germany does not have data about the occurrence of acute confusion following heart-surgery. However, the occurrence of acute confusion does extend the hospital length of stay for up to 13 days. Thus, this phenomenon is of high relevance to nursing. This prevalence/incidence study was implemented with the goal of obtaining exact information on the incidence rate of acute postoperative confusion after a heart surgery through a multicenter evaluation. The data evaluation took place in the form of a convenience sample survey in three different German clinics specializing on heart surgeries. The observation period lasted from the day of the surgery up to the fifth postoperative day. In the context of this prospective Cohort-study all patients aged 18 and older who had heart surgery between February 1st and April 30th, 2000, were considered suitable as participants in the study. In the end, 860 patients were included in this study. 152 patients (17.4%) showed symptoms of acute confusion (confidence interval 14-20%). Certain circumstances seemed to predispose patients to acute confusion. A widespread occurrence could be observed particularly at night. Patients aged 81-91 were mainly affected. A confusion rate of 43.5% could be determined for this group. These results confirm the clinical importance and suggest interdisciplinary approaches for solution.