Lancet
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Although mental incapacity is becoming increasingly important in clinical practice, little information is available on its frequency in medical inpatients. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of mental incapacity in acutely admitted medical inpatients; to determine the frequency that medical teams recognised patients who did not have mental capacity; and to identify factors associated with mental incapacity. ⋯ Mental incapacity is common in acutely ill medical inpatients, and clinicians tend not to recognise it. Screening methods for cognitive impairment could be useful in detecting those with doubtful capacity to consent.