Abstract: Objective To investigate the risk factors of sepsis-associated delirium(SAD) in intensive care unit(ICU) in the elderly with sepsis, and to provide reference for clinical diagnosis, treatment and prevention of SAD. Methods A total of 352 elderly patients with sepsis admitted to our hospital from February 2017 to February 2022 were retrospectively enrolled and divided into the SAD group(158 cases) and the non-SAD group(194 cases) according to the confusion-assessment method -ICU-7(CAM-ICU-7) score. The clinical data and laboratory data were collected, and multiple Logistic regression was used to analyze the influencing factors of SAD. Results The age of the SAD group was higher than that of the non-SAD group(P<0.05). The scores of Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) and Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation Ⅱ(APACHE Ⅱ), the proportion of septic shock, mechanical ventilation, sedative use, hyperglycemia, hypercapnia, and the serum levels of interleukin(IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), C-reactive protein(CRP) and S-100β protein in the SAD group were higher than those in the non-SAD group(P<0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that age, hyperglycemia, hypercapnia, use of sedative, IL-6, S-100β, SOFA score and APACHE Ⅱ score were risk factors for SAD(P<0.05). Conclusions The incidence of SAD in the elderly patients in ICU is influenced by lots of factors. Positively assessing the parameters is helpful to monitor the incidence of SAD.

Key words: intensive care unit, delirium, sepsis, hyperglycemia, hypercapnia, nerve inflammation