Cognitive decline in the elderly after surgery and anaesthesia: results from the Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing (OPTIMA) cohort |
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| Authors: | D Patel A D Lunn A D Smith D J Lehmann K L Dorrington |
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| Institution: | 1. Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow, UK;2. Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK;3. Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing, Department of Pharmacology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK;4. Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK;5. Nuffield Department of Anaesthetics, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK |
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| Abstract: | Concerns have been raised about the effects on cognition of anaesthesia for surgery, especially in elderly people. We recorded cognitive decline in a cohort of 394 people (198 women) with median (IQR) age at recruitment of 72.6 (66.6–77.8) years, of whom 109 had moderate or major surgery during a median (IQR) follow‐up of 4.1 (2.0–7.6) years. Cognitive decline was more rapid in people who on recruitment were: older, p = 0.0003; male, p = 0.027; had worse cognition, p < 0.0001; or carried the ε4 allele of apoliprotein E (APOEε4), p = 0.008; and after an operation if cognitive impairment was already diagnosed, p = 0.0001. Cognitive decline appears to accelerate after surgery in elderly patients diagnosed with cognitive impairment, but not other elderly patients. |
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| Keywords: | anaesthesia cognitive decline surgery |
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