CAPD: Cornell Assessment of Pediatric Delirium
2014Rapid observational nursing screen for delirium across the full paediatric age range in the PICU.
Classification
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Tool and original sources
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Original and selected diagnostic-accuracy papers
- Original paperTraube C, Silver G, Kearney J, Patel A, Atkinson TM, Yoon MJ, et al. Cornell Assessment of Pediatric Delirium: a valid, rapid, observational tool for screening delirium in the PICU*. Critical care medicine. 2014;42(3):656-63. doi: 10.1097/CCM.0b013e3182a66b76. PMID: 24145848.
This is the original published source for CAPD. It reported sensitivity of 94.1% and specificity of 79.2% against an independent DSM-IV clinical assessment.
- Systematic review of diagnostic accuracyDaoud A, Duff JP, Joffe AR, Alberta Sepsis Network. Diagnostic accuracy of delirium diagnosis in pediatric intensive care: a systematic review. Critical care (London, England). 2014;18(5):489. doi: 10.1186/s13054-014-0489-x. PMID: 25672219.
This systematic review synthesised diagnostic-accuracy evidence for CAPD. Tool-specific results included CAP-D sensitivity 91% and specificity 100% (n=50), and revised CAP-D sensitivity 94% and specificity 79% (n=111).
Article PDF: CC BY. This licence applies to the article PDF and does not grant rights to reproduce the tool.
- Selected diagnostic-accuracy studyPaterson RS, Kenardy JA, Dow BL, De Young AC, Pearson K, Aitken LM, et al. Accuracy of delirium assessments in critically ill children: A prospective, observational study during routine care. Australian critical care : official journal of the Confederation of Australian Critical Care Nurses. 2021;34(3):226-234. doi: 10.1016/j.aucc.2020.07.012. PMID: 33909556.
This diagnostic-accuracy study evaluated CAPD in 36-bed mixed paediatric ICU at an Australian tertiary hospital against a DSM-5 clinical assessment. It reported sensitivity of 91.3% and specificity of 75.2% in Critically ill children developmentally aged 6 months to 17 years.
At a glance
- Purpose
- Episodic assessment
- Population
- Paediatric
- Setting
- Intensive care
- Time
- <2 min
- Items
- 8
- Score or threshold
- ≥9
Format: The instrument records 8 scored items or observations. This site classifies it under episodic assessment, assessment of delirium in children and monitoring for new onset delirium. It is intended for paediatric use in Intensive care. The stated administration time is <2 min. The published result is recorded using ≥9.
- Strengths: All paediatric ages; rapid nursing screen
- Limitations: Lower specificity in developmental delay
Evidence
Reported sensitivity and specificity
Original/source study · 2014 — pmid:24145848
- Denominator
- Reported source unit: 248 (analysis unit not fully reconciled)
- Reference standard
- Child psychiatrist DSM-IV delirium assessment
Original validation, n=111.
More evidence and citation details
- Full name
- Cornell Assessment of Pediatric Delirium
- Also known as
- CAPD, CAP-D
- Related profiles
- CAP-D pilot
- Evidence summary
- multi
- Diagnostic-accuracy studies
- 10
- Reference standard
- DSM-IV (child psychiatrist)
- Reliability
- Inter-rater κ 0.94; α 0.90
- Citation
- Traube C, Silver G, Kearney J, Patel A, Atkinson TM, Yoon MJ, Halpert S, Augenstein J, Sickles LE, Li C, Greenwald B Cornell Assessment of Pediatric Delirium: a valid, rapid, observational tool for screening delirium in the PICU* Critical care medicine. 2014;42(3):656-63. PMID 24145848
Copyright and reuse
- Version
- Use the current version supplied by CIBS
- Information checked
- 2026-07-19
Instrument-specific terms apply. See the access and copyright policy or send a correction.
Sources checked 2026-07-29. How profiles are prepared.