Objective:

To investigate the incidence of delirium in ICU patients after extracorporeal circulation cardiac surgery and analyze key influencing factors related to this patient population.

Approach:

• Study Design: A retrospective cohort study involving 302 patients who underwent extracorporeal circulation cardiac surgery from January 2023 to June 2025.

Key Findings:

• The incidence of postoperative delirium (POD) was 28.15%.
• POD group had higher age, APACHE II scores, sedative use, postoperative hypotension rates, and lower albumin levels (all P < 0.05).
• Longer aortic cross-clamping time, cardiopulmonary bypass time, and mechanical ventilation time were observed in the POD group (all P < 0.05).
• Independent risk factors identified included older age, longer mechanical ventilation time, longer aortic cross-clamping time, higher APACHE II score, and lower albumin levels.

Interpretation:

ICU nursing records can effectively identify high-risk patients for POD, providing evidence for early warning and risk stratification.

Limitations:

• The study is retrospective and may be subject to biases inherent in such designs, including selection bias and information bias.
• The specific medical environment may limit the generalizability of the findings to other settings.

Conclusion:

The study reports a high incidence of POD after cardiac surgery with extracorporeal circulation and identifies several associated risk factors.