medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

, confusion is the quality or state of being bewildered or unclear. The term "acute mental confusion"''Confusion Definition''
on

Oxford Dictionaries Oxford dictionary may refer to any dictionary published by Oxford University Press, particularly: Historical dictionaries * ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') * ''Shorter Oxford English Dictionary'', abridgement of the ''OED'' Single-volume d ...

. is often used interchangeably with

delirium Delirium (also known as acute confusional state) is an organically caused decline from a previous baseline of mental function that develops over a short period of time, typically hours to days. Delirium is a syndrome encompassing disturbances in ...

in the ''

International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is a globally used diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management and clinical purposes. The ICD is maintained by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is the directing and coordinating ...

'' and the ''

Medical Subject Headings Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a comprehensive controlled vocabulary for the purpose of indexing journal articles and books in the life sciences. It serves as a thesaurus that facilitates searching. Created and updated by the United States N ...

'' publications to describe the

pathology Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in ...

. These refer to the loss of

orientation Orientation may refer to: Positioning in physical space * Map orientation, the relationship between directions on a map and compass directions * Orientation (housing), the position of a building with respect to the sun, a concept in building de ...

, or the ability to place oneself correctly in the world by time, location and personal identity. Mental confusion is sometimes accompanied by disordered

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

(the loss of linear thinking) and

memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...

loss (the inability to correctly recall previous events or learn new material).confusion
in TheFreeDictionary, citing: Dorland's Medical Dictionary for Health Consumers; 2007; Saunders.

Etymology

The word confusion derives from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word, ''confundo'', which means "confuse, mix, blend, pour together, disorder, embroil."

Causes

Confusion may result from drug side effects or from a relatively sudden brain dysfunction. Acute confusion is often called

(or "acute confusional state"), although delirium often includes a much broader array of disorders than simple confusion. These disorders include the inability to focus attention; various impairments in awareness, and temporal or spatial dis-orientation. Mental confusion can result from chronic organic brain pathologies, such as

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

, as well.

Other

* Acute stress reaction *

Alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...

Anemia Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, th ...

* Anticholinergic toxicity * Anxiety * Brain damage * Brain tumor * Concussion * Dehydration * Encephalopathy * Epileptic seizure * Depression (mood), Depression * Fatigue * Fever * Brain injury * Heat stroke * Hypoglycemia * Hypothermia * Hypothyroidism * Jet lag * Kidney failure * Kidney infection (pyelonephritis) * Lactic acidosis * Lassa fever * Lewy body dementia * Listeria * Lyme disease * Meningitis * Postpartum depression & Postpartum psychosis * Psychotic Disorder * Reye's syndrome * Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) * Schizophrenia * Sick building syndrome * Sleep apnea * Stroke * Yellow fever * Sexually transmitted infection, STDs & STIs * Streptococcal Infections * Toxicity * Toxic shock syndrome * Transient ischemic attack (TIA, Mini-Stroke) * Vitamin B12 deficiency, Vitamin B₁₂ deficiency * Acute Porphyria * West Nile virus

Differential diagnosis

The most common causes of drug induced acute confusion are dopaminergic drugs (used for the treatment of Parkinson's disease), diuretics, tricyclic antidepressants, tricyclic, tetracyclic antidepressants and benzodiazepines or Alcohol (drug), alcohol. The elderly, and especially those with pre-existing dementia, are most at risk for drug induced acute confusional states. New research is finding a link between vitamin D deficiency and cognitive impairment (which includes "foggy brain").

References

External links