Features of Geriatric Patients in Psychiatric Consultation: a Retrospective Comparative Study

Objective: The proportion of geriatric inpatients has increased with the increase of the elderly in the general population. This study aims to compare the medical and psychiatric conditions of geriatric inpatients with those of non-geriatric adult inpatients. Method: Consultation notes of inpatients who have been referred to the Marmara University Hospital Consultation Liaison Unit from different departments, between August 2005 and August 2006 were assessed retrospectively. Patients were divided into two groups, including those over 65 years of age and those between 18-55 years. These two groups were compared according to their sociodemographic data, reasons for consultation, psychiatric signs and symptoms, medical diseases, alcohol and substance use history, personal and family psychiatric history, used medication, psychiatric diagnosis and suggested management. Results: The geriatric group consisted of 115 patients with a mean age of 73.0 years and the the non-geriatric group consisted of 129 patients with a mean age of 38.2 years. Internal Medicine Department asked for the highest number of consultations in both of the groups. The most common reasons for referral were psychomotor agitation in the geriatric group and depressive symptoms in the non-geriatric group. Delirium was diagnosed significantly more frequently in the geriatric group compared to the non-geriatric group (41.7% vs 12.4%; p<0.001). The most common medical diagnosis was hypertension in the geriatric group compared to leukemia in the non-geriatric group. The mean number of medications taken by each patient was significantly higher in the geriatric patients than in the non-geriatric patients (7.68 +/- 3.52 vs 5.65 +/- 4.07; p<0.001). Conclusions: Some issues have arisen in the psychiatric consultations of the geriatric inpatients. Delirium has to be considered in the patients with psychomotor agitation and in those who have been operated recently. The higher number of medications used by the geriatric patients is a reason that physicians have to pay attention to drug side effects and drug interactions in this group.