Zopiclone withdrawal: an unusual cause of delirium in the elderly

Wong, Chun Pong
Chiu, Patrick Ka Chun
Chu, Leung Wing

Department of Medicine, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong

Address correspondence to: P. K. C. Chiu, Department of Medicine, Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong. Email: [email protected]

Received 5 May 2005; accepted 16 May 2005

Age and Ageing 34(5):p 526-527, September 2005.

We report a case of an elderly lady who was admitted for congestive heart failure. She developed delirium during the course of her hospital stay. Multiple investigations were performed but were unremarkable. Finally, a diagnosis of abrupt zopiclone withdrawal causing delirium was made. Zopiclone was resumed at a lower dose and delirium resolved completely.