Diagnosaurus
Altered mental status
DDx
Drugs
- Opioids, alcohol, sedatives, antipsychotics, withdrawal, others
Metabolic
- Hypoxia, hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, hypercalcemia, hypernatremia, hyponatremia, uremia, hepatic encephalopathy, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, vitamin B12 or thiamine deficiency, carbon monoxide poisoning, Wilson’s disease
Infectious
- Meningitis, encephalitis, bacteremia, urinary tract infection, pneumonia, neurosyphilis
Structural
- Space-occupying lesion, eg, brain tumor, subdural hematoma, hydrocephalus
Vascular
- Stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage, coronary ischemia, hypertensive encephalopathy, CNS vasculitis, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, disseminated intravascular coagulation, hyperviscosity
Psychiatric
- Schizophrenia, depression, mania
Other
- Seizure, nonconvulsive status epilepticus, hypothermia, heat stroke, ICU psychosis, "sundowning"
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Last updated: March 5, 2015
Citation
Zeiger, Roni F.. "Altered Mental Status." Diagnosaurus, 4th ed., McGraw-Hill Education, 2015. Emergency Central, emergency.unboundmedicine.com/emergency/view/Diagnosaurus/114849/all/Altered_mental_status.
Zeiger RFR. Altered mental status. Diagnosaurus. McGraw-Hill Education; 2015. https://emergency.unboundmedicine.com/emergency/view/Diagnosaurus/114849/all/Altered_mental_status. Accessed October 31, 2025.
Zeiger, R. F. (2015). Altered mental status. In Diagnosaurus (4th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education. https://emergency.unboundmedicine.com/emergency/view/Diagnosaurus/114849/all/Altered_mental_status
Zeiger RFR. Altered Mental Status [Internet]. In: Diagnosaurus. McGraw-Hill Education; 2015. [cited 2025 October 31]. Available from: https://emergency.unboundmedicine.com/emergency/view/Diagnosaurus/114849/all/Altered_mental_status.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - ELEC
T1 - Altered mental status
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A1 - Zeiger,Roni F,
Y1 - 2015/03/05/
BT - Diagnosaurus
UR - https://emergency.unboundmedicine.com/emergency/view/Diagnosaurus/114849/all/Altered_mental_status
PB - McGraw-Hill Education
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DB - Emergency Central
DP - Unbound Medicine
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