Is postoperative delirium linked to cognitive decline? Yes, delirium is associated with a faster cognitive decline in all periods from six months to six years.
![Postoperative Delirium Linked to Accelerated Cognitive Decline Postoperative Delirium Linked to Accelerated Cognitive Decline](https://images.medindia.net/health-images/1200_1000/pain-management.jpg)
‘There is an increased possibility that delirium may predispose to permanent cognitive decline and potentially dementia.’
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Whether delirium caused the faster cognitive decline or was simply a marker of people with preclinical brain disease is unknown. This also highlights the importance of delirium prevention to preserve brain health in older adults who undergo surgery.![twitter](https://images.medindia.net/icons/news/social/twitter.png)
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In both surgical and nonsurgical patients, delirium has been linked with subsequent cognitive decline. A recent meta-analysis showed that people who experienced an episode of delirium were more than twice as likely to show long-term cognitive decline as those without delirium.
Researchers followed 560 community-dwelling older adults in the ongoing study that began in 2010. The mean age was 76.7, and 58% of the cohort was female; at baseline all participants were dementia-free. All participants had elective surgery -- mostly orthopedic procedures -- with an anticipated hospital stay of 3 days or longer.
During hospitalization, delirium was assessed daily with the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) and supported by a medical record review. Overall, 134 people (24%) developed postoperative delirium.
Developing Postoperative Delirium is Linked to Quicker Rate of Cognitive Decline
Cognitive performance was assessed with a battery of 11 tests preoperatively and at multiple time points after surgery for up to 6 years. The tests measured attention, memory, language, and executive function. The researchers evaluated an additional 119 participants as a nonsurgical comparison group to quantify learning associations with cognitive retesting.The longitudinal cognitive change was based on general cognitive performance (GCP), a composite measure scaled so that 10 GCP points were equivalent to 1 population standard deviation. GCP scores were corrected for retest effects.
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In overall comparisons, the group who developed delirium (compared with those who did not) showed a significantly steeper slope of cognitive decline that approximated the slope seen among individuals who receive a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease within 5 years.
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Source-Eurekalert