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OBJECTIVE: to examine the relative frequency and outcome of clinical subtypes of delirium in older hospital patients. DESIGN: prospective observational study. SETTING: acute geriatric unit in a teaching hospital. SUBJECTS: 94 patients with delirium from a prospective study of 225 admissions. MEASUREMENTS: clinical subtypes of delirium were determined according to predefined criteria. Characteristics examined in these subgroups included illness severity on admission, prior cognitive impairment, mortality, duration of hospital stay and hospital-acquired complications. RESULTS: of the 94 patients, 20 (21%) had a hyperactive delirium, 27 (29%) had a hypoactive delirium, 40 (43%) had a mixed hypoactive-hyperactive psychomotor pattern and seven (7%) had no psychomotor disturbance. There were significant differences between the four groups in illness severity (P < 0.05), length of hospital stay (P < 0 …