The first major finding of this study is that delirium and/or the severity of delirium symptoms are significantly associated with the IRS/CIRS ratio, namely positively with M1 (i.e. IL-6, CXCL8 and TNF-α), Th1 and Th17 activation and T cell growth (positively), and inversely with IL-4 and sIL-1RA. Here, CXCL8 is linked to delirium.