Please select the eligibility criteria that correspond to the clinical trial below.
Title: Early Pharmacological Intervention to Prevent Delirium: Haloperidol Prophylaxis in Older Emergency Department Patients
Brief Summary: The investigators propose a multicenter, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial to study the effect of additive low-dose haloperidol prophylaxis on top of exciting care in a general population of older patients (age 70 years and over) acutely admitted to the hospital through the emergency department (ED) for general medicine and surgical specialties, and who are at-risk for developing in-hospital delirium on admission according to the VMS delirium risk questions (one or more positive answers out of three questions).

The investigators hypothesize that this intervention will reduce the incidence of in-hospital delirium as well as duration and severity of delirium.


Options:
A: Inclusion Criteria:

MUST HAVE:

General Anesthesia with volatile anesthetic

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS

Major Criteria (Must have any 1 of the following:)

1. Planned open heart surgery
2. Medications - anticonvulsants, abuse of opiates, benzodiazepines, cocaine
3. EF\<40%
4. Prior history of awareness (recall)
5. History of difficult intubation or anticipated difficult intubation
6. ASA IV or V status
7. Aortic stenosis
8. End stage lung disease
9. Marginal exercise tolerance not secondary to musculoskeletal dysfunction
10. Pulmonary hypertension
11. Daily alcohol consumption

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Surgical procedure that prevents the use of the BIS (e.g. surgery of forehead)
2. Patient positioning prevents use of the BIS
3. Surgery with wake-up test.
4. Less than 18 years of age
5. Vulnerable populations, such as those with dementia and those unable to provide informed consent.
6. Stroke with residual neurological deficits

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B: Inclusion criteria:

1. elderly patients (age range 60-90 years);
2. scheduled to undergo noncardiac thoracic or abdominal surgery with an expected duration of 2 hours or longer. For those who undergo thoracoscopic or laparoscopic surgery, the expected length of incision must be 5 centimeters or more;
3. agree to receive patient-controlled postoperative analgesia.

Exclusion criteria (patients who meet any of the following criteria will be excluded):

1. previous history of schizophrenia, epilepsy or Parkinson disease, or unable to complete preoperative assessment due to severe dementia, language barrier or end-stage disease;
2. history of myocardial infarction within 3 months before surgery;
3. any contraindication to epidural anesthesia and analgesia, including abnormal vertebral anatomy, previous spinal trauma or surgery, severe chronic back pain, coagulation disorder (prothrombin time or activated partial prothrombin time longer than 1.5 times of the upper limit of normal, or platelet count of less than 80 × 10\^9/L), local infection near the site of puncture, and severe sepsis;
4. severe heart dysfunction (New York Heart Association functional classification 3 or above), hepatic insufficiency (Child-Pugh grades C), or renal insufficiency (serum creatinine of 442 μmol/L or above, with or without serum potassium of 6.5 mmol/L or above, or requirement of renal replacement therapy); or
5. any other conditions that were considered unsuitable for study participation.
C: Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients scheduled for a non-cardiac surgical procedure of high or intermediate cardiac risk are eligible if they have documented coronary artery disease (CAD) or are at high risk of CAD.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Ongoing medication with sulfonylurea derivatives (unless stopped ≥ 2 days before surgery) or theophylline
* Emergency surgery
* Unstable angina pectoris
* Preoperative hemodynamic instability
* Severe hepatic disease
* Renal insufficiency (creatinine clearance \< 30 ml/min)
* Severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (forced expiratory volume in 1 second \[FEV1\] \< 1 litre)
* Absence of written patient consent
D: Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients aged 70 years or over;
* The patient is at increased risk for developing in-hospital delirium on admission according to one or more positive answers on the VMS delirium-risk questions;
* The patient and/or proxy is able to provide written informed consent;
* The patient and/or proxy speaks either Dutch or English;
* The patient is admitted to the hospital for a general medicine or surgical specialty.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patients presenting in the ED with delirium according to the DSM-IV criteria;
* Patients with clinically significant (cardiac) disorders: QTc interval prolongation (QTc ≥500ms), recent acute myocardial infarction, uncompensated heart failure (working diagnosis), acute coronary syndrome (ACS), arrhythmias treated with class IA and III antiarrhythmic medicinal products, history of ventricular arrhythmia, history of torsades, clinically significant bradycardia, second or third degree heart block, uncorrected hypokalaemia (potassium level 3.0 or lower);
* Patients with vascular dementia;
* Patients with Lewy Body dementia;
* Patients with Parkinson dementia;
* Patients with (a history of) hypokinetic movement disorders;
* Patients with (a history of) malignant neuroleptic syndrome;
* Patients with (a history of) serotonergic syndrome;
* Patients with (a history of) central anticholinergic syndrome;
* Patients who will be admitted to the oncology ward;
* Patients previously enrolled in the HARPOON study, or in other medical- or drug studies;
* Patients using QT prolonging drugs and/or medications of which concomitant use with haloperidol is contraindicated (clinically relevant drug interactions, 1st degree, listed in the appendix of the study protocol);
* Epilepsy;
* Substance abuse and dependence (DSM-IV criteria)
* Patients who are not able to take the study medication according to protocol (amendment)

Answer: D