Open Journal of Psychiatry, 2018, 8, 297-314 http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojpsych ISSN Online: 2161-7333 ISSN Print: 2161-7325 DOI: 10.4236/ojpsych.2018.83024 Jul. 30, 2018 297 Open Journal of Psychiatry Delirium and Length of Hospital Stay among Medical Inpatients in Jos University Teaching Hospital, North-Central Nigeria Maigari Yusufu Taru 1,2* , Lubuola Issa Bamidele 2 , Akinyemi Opeyemi Faith 2 , Gyang Bwatyum Annah 2 , Okonoda Kingsley Mayowa 1,2 , Aishatu Armiya’u Yushau 2 1 Department of Psychiatry, University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria 2 Department of Psychiatry, Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos, Nigeria Abstract Delirium is a complex neuropsychiatric syndrome that is often associated with adverse outcomes including prolonged hospitalization. This study aims to de- termine the length of hospital stay among medically-ill patients with and without delirium who were admitted through the Accident and Emergency unit of the Jos University Teaching Hospital, in North-Central Nigeria. It was a cross-sectional study that employed a consecutive sampling technique to se- lect 290 eligible subjects in a face-to-face interview, using a confusion assess- ment method to assess for delirium within 24 hours of admission. All the res- pondents were followed-up from the Accident and Emergency unit until dis- charge or death. The results showed that respondents with delirium rather than those without, were significantly more likely to stay longer in the hospit- al (P < 0.001). The significant factors associated with prolonged hospitaliza- tion among those with delirium include, current medications use, duration of illness before presentation and type of medical diagnosis (P < 0.001), (P < 0.001) and (P < 0.001) respectively. The results point to the importance of screening for delirium in medically-ill patients, with particular attention to patients with infectious and cerebrovascular diseases. Keywords Delirium, Medical Inpatients, Accident and Emergency, Length of Stay 1. Introduction The term delirium was originally derived from a Latin word Delirare which How to cite this paper: Taru, M.Y., Ba- midele, L.I., Faith, A.O., Annah, G.B., Mayowa, O.K. and Yushau, A.A. (2018) Delirium and Length of Hospital Stay among Medical Inpatients in Jos University Teaching Hospital, North-Central Nigeria. Open Journal of Psychiatry, 8, 297-314. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojpsych.2018.83024 Received: June 22, 2018 Accepted: July 27, 2018 Published: July 30, 2018 Copyright © 2018 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access