What are the complications of delirium?

It is serious: And it can lead to temporary or permanent loss of functioning and dementia if not recognized and treated. One study shows that if symptoms do not resolve in 2 weeks there is a permanent loss of functioning in older adults.

Depends: What casued the delerium? Anesthesia? It usually passes in hrs. Psych meds? Surgery, lsd, stroke, altzheimers, depending on the cause the complications are anything you can think of if a person isn't thinking right; , hurting others or themselves, malnutrition or any organ can fail with long term delirum.

Depends: There has been ~15 years of scientific exploration of this question. Older patients with less cerebral reserve with prolonged delirium are less likely to return to baseline. Younger patients with more cerebral reserve and shorter delirium fair better. Prolonged and severe delirium does appear to produce some neurotoxicity. See my chapter in appi textbook of psychiatry (2008) for more discussion.