4 Characterizing Cognitive Profiles and Postoperative Cognitive Risk in Older Adults Presenting for Elective Surgery
Authors: Hamlet Kristin 
Published: December 2023

Objective:

Older adults represent 50% of surgical patients and are disproportionately at risk of poor cognitive outcomes after surgery including delirium, accelerated cognitive decline, and dementia. Delirium alone is estimated to occur in up to 50% of older adults postoperatively, while research indicates it is preventable in 30-40% of cases. Individuals with pre-existing cognitive impairments or neurodegenerative diseases are at the highest risk of such outcomes, but (1) cognitive diagnoses are grossly underrepresented in patients' medical records, and (2) routine preoperative cognitive clearance remains rare. The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate the extent and nature of cognitive vulnerability in older adults preparing for elective surgery within a tertiary care hospital. A case series is also reviewed to illustrate varying surgical outcomes with and without consideration of preoperative cognitive risk.

Participants and Methods:

This presentation incorporated IRB-approved and data honest broker management to assess diagnoses and cognitive profiles of adults age 65 and older electing surgery with anesthesia between January 2018 and December 2019. Data were assessed across two phases of the Perioperative Cognitive Anesthesia Network (PeCAN) program within the University of Florida and UF Health. First, data from the preoperative anesthesia clinic were reviewed for the percentage of patients with cognitive difficulties within the patient problem list. Second, based on neuropsychological domains, the cognitive profiles of patients assessed by neuropsychologists within the preoperative anesthesia clinic were divided into primary attention, primary memory, or combined memory attention. From these patients, the presenter highlight cases to demonstrate how individuals with cognitive difficulties can be provided care by a multidisciplinary team to mitigate the presence of postoperative complications.

Results:

Of 14,794 older adults entering the tertiary care medical center for surgical procedures, 4% (n=591) of the sample had ICD cognitive or neurodegenerative codes in the record. When a comprehensive neurobehavioral assessments were conducted on 1,363 of these presurgical patients, 70% had confirmed cognitive deficits on neuropsychological testing. These deficits included primary attention and executive deficits (12%), primary memory impairment (27%), or both attention and memory impairment (31%). Cases from these patients are reviewed and highlight how preoperative cognitive risk status can inform conservative perioperative practices including opioid-sparing analgesia, depth of anesthesia monitoring, and postoperative inpatient geriatric medicine consultation.

Conclusions:

Medical records listed cognitive diagnoses in 4% of hospital preoperative medical records, yet neuropsychological assessment of a subset of cases revealed a markedly higher rate of impairment. Patients with preoperative cognitive assessment show cognitive symptoms consistent with known neurological disorders of aging including Alzheimer's disease and cerebrovascular disease. Appreciation of pre-existing neurocognitive disorders can alter perioperative practices to prevent or reduce the risk of delirium and other postoperative neurocognitive changes. These data and cases reviewed will highlight how neuropsychology can be involved in perioperative care and champion perioperative interventions for perioperative "rescues".