Increased risk of dementia in patients who experience delirium after surgery
Pre-existing cognitive impairment or dementia in patients undergoing surgery are widely recognized as risk factors for postoperative delirium, increasing its likelihood and severity. However, little previous research has focused on whether delirium itself portends or even accelerates a decline into dementia in patients who showed no previous signs of cognitive impairment. Research published today in the British Journal of Anaesthesia focuses on patients over the age of 65 who were assessed as cognitively normal prior to surgery. This study, led by Professor Juraj Sprung of the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, finds those who developed postoperative delirium were three times more likely to suffer permanent cognitive impairment or dementia. Over a ten year period, patients over the age of 65 enrolled at the Mayo Clinic Study of Ageing in Olmsted County Minnesota who were exposed to general anesthesia were included in an investigation involving over two 2000 patients. Their cognitiv...