Responsible for the project: Prof Dr Rebecca Palm

Project participants:

• General medicine: Prof Dr Michael Freitag (UOL)
• Geriatrics: Prof Dr Tania Zieschang (UOL), Dr Tim Stuckenschneider (UOL)
• Outpatient care and pharmacoepidemiology: Prof Dr Falk Hoffmann (UOL)
• Statistics: Dr Burkhard Haastert (mediStatistica)

Project staff: Johanna Seiters, Vincent Molitor

Funding: Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space
Funding volume: € 999,883.49
DeliDem-NH - Occurrence and course of delirium in people with dementia in care facilities for the elderly - Health Research BMFTR

Funding reference: 01GY2502

Project duration: August 2025 - July 2028

Short summary: The DeliDem-NH project is investigating the occurrence and course of delirium in people with dementia in approximately 300 residents from 20 geriatric care facilities. For this purpose, the residents are visited at regular intervals by project staff. If acute delirium is suspected, the severity of the potential delirium is determined using cognitive tests and information from geriatric care staff and relatives. The tests are repeated regularly until the potential delirium symptoms have subsided. Once a potential delirium has been identified, elderly care facilities and the general practitioners providing care receive a questionnaire to determine whether and which delirium management measures have been initiated. In a sub-sample, the activity during a potential delirium episode is also recorded and compared with the activity before the onset of symptoms.

Research questions:

1. Estimating the prevalence and incidence of delirium in people with dementia living in elderly care facilities
2. Investigation of the association between favouring and triggering factors
3. Description of the prognosis of delirium in dementia with regard to function, cognition and mortality
4. Description of the physical activity of residents of elderly care facilities with dementia who have delirium compared to residents with dementia who do not have delirium
5. Description of nursing and medical processes to prevent and treat delirium in people with dementia

Contact possibility via Mal: delidem@uol.de