Full Name
Prof Sharon K. Inouye
Designation
M.D., MPH / Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Milton and Shirley F. Levy Family Chair; Director, Aging Brain Center, Marcus Institute for Aging Research, Hebrew SeniorLife
Bio
Dr. Inouye is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Aging Brain Center at the Marcus Institute for Aging Research, Hebrew SeniorLife. She developed the Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP) to provide Age Friendly Care, implemented worldwide. She developed the CAM, the most widely used delirium tool worldwide, translated into >20 languages and cited >20,000 times. NIH funded since 1989, with >80 grants including current >$13 million P01 grant on delirium and dementia and >$4 million R33 grant for the NIDUS II Delirium Research Network. With >350 scientific publications, she was recognized by Thomson Reuters ScienceWatch as one of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds. She serves as Associate Editor at JAMA Network Open, and is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (2011), AAP and ASCI. She has served on the NASEM HCS Board, 2019-2022; President’s Advisory Council, NAM Grand Challenge in Healthy Longevity, 2018-present; Advisory Board for APHA-NAM Covid-19 Conversations, 2020-present; and NASEM Committee for Improving Representation of Women and Underrepresented Minorities in Clinical Trials, 2021-2022. She served as Health and Aging Policy Fellow and American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow 2016-17, and was recognized as PBS-Next Avenue 2020 Influencer of Aging.
Topic
Delirium in Older Adults: What Can We Do?
Abstract
Delirium, an acute confusional state, is a common and serious problem for older adults in the face of acute illness, surgery, or medication toxicity. Associated with serious complications, including functional and cognitive decline, prolonged length of stay, institutionalization, death and increased risk for dementia, delirium leads to substantial increased healthcare costs. Delirium is unrecognized in up to 2/3 of cases. Identification of delirium can be challenging, and greatly assisted by brief validated screening tools, such as the ultra-brief Confusion Assessment Method (UB-CAM). Delirium is typically of multifactorial etiology, and understanding the interplay of vulnerability and precipitating factors can help to stratify risk and identify effective preventive approaches. Psychoactive medications are the most common precipitating factors for delirium. Targeted multicomponent nonpharmacologic intervention approaches, such as the Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP) have been documented to decrease delirium incidence by at least 40%. High rates of delirium have complicated COVID-19, and have been associated with poor outcomes. This talk will focus on the epidemiology, risk factors, pathophysiology, identification, prevention, and management of delirium in older hospitalized adults, as well as an update on delirium during COVID-19.
