Delirium and dementia are two distinct disorders, but they have overlapping symptoms which can lead to difficulty in differentiation

Delirium is a disorder that causes simultaneous disturbance of attention, orientation, awareness and global neurocognitive impairment with fluctuating symptoms that develop acutely (World Health Organization (WHO) 2023a). Delirium can be (Evans 2023):

» Hyperactive, presenting with agitation and restlessness.

» Hypoactive, presenting with sluggishness and inactivity.

» Mixed, presenting with both hyper and hypoactive symptoms.