Edinburgh Delirium Test Box
The Sustained Counting Task
The Sustained Counting Task (SCT) is a task of sustained attention that was developed by the EDRB as an objective, computerised measure of sustained attention. Deficits of sustained attention have frequently been implicated in delirium and recent studies using the SCT have found that this task has an ability to differentiate between delirium and dementia.
In this task, lights are presented one at a time with a delayed inter-stimulus interval of 2 to 6 seconds. Varying levels of distraction (central and peripheral) are also presented across the 5 levels of difficulty.
The SCT has been validated in multiple case-control studies. Patients with delirium consistently show deficits on these tasks compared to patients with dementia and healthy controls. The Receiver Operator Characteristic Area Under the Curve for these tasks typically ranges from 0.80 to 0.99, indicating good accuracy in detecting delirium and discriminating delirium from dementia. Moreover, Delbox tasks show promise in measuring delirium severity: changes in delirium severity are accompanied by corresponding changes in Delbox scores. The Delbox has also been tested in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where delirium is a major unresolved problem; initial findings again show significantly impaired task performance in delirium compared to no delirium.
The Sustained Counting Task (SCT) is a task of sustained attention that was developed by the EDRB as an objective, computerised measure of sustained attention. Deficits of sustained attention have frequently been implicated in delirium and recent studies using the SCT have found that this task has an ability to differentiate between delirium and dementia.
In this task, lights are presented one at a time with a delayed inter-stimulus interval of 2 to 6 seconds. Varying levels of distraction (central and peripheral) are also presented across the 5 levels of difficulty.
The SCT has been validated in multiple case-control studies. Patients with delirium consistently show deficits on these tasks compared to patients with dementia and healthy controls. The Receiver Operator Characteristic Area Under the Curve for these tasks typically ranges from 0.80 to 0.99, indicating good accuracy in detecting delirium and discriminating delirium from dementia. Moreover, Delbox tasks show promise in measuring delirium severity: changes in delirium severity are accompanied by corresponding changes in Delbox scores. The Delbox has also been tested in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where delirium is a major unresolved problem; initial findings again show significantly impaired task performance in delirium compared to no delirium.
Peripheral Distractors
Central Distractors
