The Family Confusion Assessment Method (FAM-CAM), derived from the original Confusion Assessment Method (CAM), was recently developed to screen for delirium by interviewing family caregivers.

to present the preliminary results of the Portuguese version of FAM-CAM.

The translation process of FAM-CAM was carried out, according to ISPOR guidelines, with trained researchers. After that, a pilot-study was carried out with a sample of families and/or caregivers of elderly patients hospitalized (≥48 hours), in an intermediate care unit of Critical Care Service/CHSJ. Inclusion criteria were: patient knowledge to enable reporting on his/her mental and physical abilities and staying at patient's bedside daily during hospitalization. Families/caregivers aged less than 18 years and who did not speak Portuguese were excluded. All patients were assessed by DSM-IV-TR (reference standard) and by CAM. The FAM-CAM was administered to the families and/or caregivers, by a trained researcher.

The sample included 40 families/caregivers (59% adult children). According to the DSM-IV-TR, 20.5% of patients had delirium. FAMCAM had a moderate sensitivity (75%) and a good specificity (87%) when were assessed against to DSM-IV-TR. Compared with CAM, this instrument presented a better sensitivity (86%) and specificity (90%).

These preliminary results suggested that FAM-CAM appears as a sensitive screening tool for detection of delirium in elderly hospitalized patients, using observations of family caregivers. However, future studies with larger samples will be needed to further validate these results and to analyze other psychometric proprieties.

The present work was supported by Foundation for Science and Technology/FCT (SFRH/BD/63154/2009).