Association of postop delirium with long-term cognitive function

Editor's Note

In this study, postoperative delirium had a negative association with 30- and 90-day cognition in all participating patients. However, patients with preoperative cognitive impairment had an improvement in cognition at 30 and 90 days after surgery, but this increase was attenuated if the patient experienced postoperative delirium.

This analysis of 191 adults having major surgery found that patients with postoperative delirium had a 0.70-point greater decrease in 90-day cognitive assessment scores than those without delirium, after adjusting for preoperative cognitive impairment. Compared with baseline scores, this result was statistically nonsignificant.

This is the first study to assess the association between postoperative delirium and change in cognitive function from baseline in a broad, heterogeneous surgical population, the researchers say.