The wave called delirium, from onset to consequences

A major part of delirium research in elderly patients has been in heterogeneous populations. Patients develop delirium in the presence of an underlying medical condition which is the reason for hospital admission, which hinders baseline assessment of predisposing factors. In contrast, the research in this thesis was done in a homogeneous group with baseline data available, as well as longitudinal and follow-up data on several factors. The general aim of this thesis was threefold. We wanted to increase our knowledge on several aspects of delirium: predisposing and precipitating factors (anesthetic technique, surgery), phenomenology and symptoms throughout the delirium episode (motor subtyping), and conclude with the (long-term) outcomes of delirium (cognitive and affective functioning).