Feasibility and Rationale for Incorporating Frailty and Cognitive Screening Protocols in a Preoperative Anesthesia Clinic

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

<div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="S1">  </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d1216320e227">BACKGROUND</h5> <p id="P1">Advanced age, frailty, low education level, and impaired cognition are generally reported to be associated with postoperative cognitive complications. To translate research findings into hospital-wide preoperative assessment clinical practice, we examined the feasibility of implementing a preoperative frailty and cognitive assessment for all older adults electing surgical procedures in a tertiary medical center. We examined associations among age, education, frailty, and comorbidity with the clock and 3-word memory scores, estimated the prevalence of mild to major cognitive impairment in the presurgical sample, and examined factors related to hospital length of stay. </p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="S2">  </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d1216320e232">METHODS</h5> <p id="P2">Medical staff screened adults ≥65 years of age for frailty, general cognition (via the clock-drawing test command and copy, 3-word memory test), and obtained years of education. Feasibility was studied in 2 phases: (1) a pilot phase involving 4 advanced nurse practitioners and (2) a 2-month implementation phase involving all preoperative staff. We tracked sources of missing data, investigated associations of study variables with measures of cognition, and used 2 approaches to estimate the likelihood of dementia in our sample (ie, using extant data and logistic regression modeling and using Mini-Cog cut scores). We explored which protocol variables related to hospital length of stay. </p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="S3">  </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d1216320e237">RESULTS</h5> <p id="P3">The final implementation phase sample included 678 patients. Clock and 3-word memory scores were significantly associated with age, frailty, and education. Education, clock scores, and 3-word scores were not significantly different by surgery type. Likelihood of preoperative cognitive impairment was approximately 20%, with no difference by surgery type. Length of stay was significantly associated with preoperative comorbidity and performance on the clock copy condition. </p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="S4">  </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d1216320e242">CONCLUSIONS</h5> <p id="P4">Frailty and cognitive screening protocols are feasible and provide information for perioperative care planning. Challenges to clinical adaptation include staff training, missing data, and additional administration time. These challenges appear minimal relative to the benefits of identifying frailty and cognitive impairment in a group at risk for negative postoperative cognitive outcome. </p> </div>

Related collections

Most cited references 30

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Predictors of cognitive dysfunction after major noncardiac surgery.

Terri Monk, B Craig Weldon, Cyndi Garvan … (2008)

The authors designed a prospective longitudinal study to investigate the hypothesis that advancing age is a risk factor for postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) after major noncardiac surgery and the impact of POCD on mortality in the first year after surgery. One thousand sixty-four patients aged 18 yr or older completed neuropsychological tests before surgery, at hospital discharge, and 3 months after surgery. Patients were categorized as young (18-39 yr), middle-aged (40-59 yr), or elderly (60 yr or older). At 1 yr after surgery, patients were contacted to determine their survival status. At hospital discharge, POCD was present in 117 (36.6%) young, 112 (30.4%) middle-aged, and 138 (41.4%) elderly patients. There was a significant difference between all age groups and the age-matched control subjects (P < 0.001). At 3 months after surgery, POCD was present in 16 (5.7%) young, 19 (5.6%) middle-aged, and 39 (12.7%) elderly patients. At this time point, the prevalence of cognitive dysfunction was similar between age-matched controls and young and middle-aged patients but significantly higher in elderly patients compared to elderly control subjects (P < 0.001). The independent risk factors for POCD at 3 months after surgery were increasing age, lower educational level, a history of previous cerebral vascular accident with no residual impairment, and POCD at hospital discharge. Patients with POCD at hospital discharge were more likely to die in the first 3 months after surgery (P = 0.02). Likewise, patients who had POCD at both hospital discharge and 3 months after surgery were more likely to die in the first year after surgery (P = 0.02). Cognitive dysfunction is common in adult patients of all ages at hospital discharge after major noncardiac surgery, but only the elderly (aged 60 yr or older) are at significant risk for long-term cognitive problems. Patients with POCD are at an increased risk of death in the first year after surgery.

0 comments Cited 407 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: not found
Article: not found

Brain reserve capacity on symptom onset after brain injury: A formulation and review of evidence for threshold theory.

Paul Satz (1993)

0 comments Cited 117 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Preoperative assessment of the older patient: a narrative review.

Emily V A Finlayson, L. Lyons, Lawrence Oresanya (2014)

Surgery in older patients often poses risks of death, complications, and functional decline. Prior to surgery, evaluations of health-related priorities, realistic assessments of surgical risks, and individualized optimization strategies are essential. To review surgical decision making for older adult patients by 2 measures: defining treatment goals for elderly patients and reviewing the evidence relating risk factors to adverse outcomes. Assessment and optimization strategies for older surgical patients are proposed. A review of studies relating geriatric conditions such as functional and cognitive impairment, malnutrition, facility residence, and frailty to postoperative mortality and complications (including delirium, discharge to an institution, and functional decline). Medline, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases were searched for articles published between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2013, that included patients older than 60 years. This review identified 54 studies of older patients; 28 that examined preoperative clinical features associated with mortality (n = 1,422,433 patients) and 26 that examined factors associated with surgical complications (n = 136,083 patients). There was substantial heterogeneity in study methods, measures, and outcomes. The absolute risk and risk ratios relating preoperative clinical conditions to mortality varied widely: 10% to 40% for cognitive impairment (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 1.26 [95% CI, 1.06-1.49] to 5.77 [95% CI, 1.55-21.55]), 10% to 17% for malnutrition (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 0.88 [95% CI, 0.78-1.01] to 59.2 [95% CI, 3.6-982.9]), and 11% to 41% for institutionalization (adjusted OR, 1.5 [95% CI, 1.02-2.21] to 3.27 [95% CI, 2.81-3.81]).) Risk ratios for functional dependence relating to mortality ranged from an adjusted HR of 1.02 (95% CI, 0.99-1.04) to an adjusted OR of 18.7 (95% CI, 1.6-215.3) and for frailty relating to mortality, ranged from an adjusted HR of 1.10 (95% CI, 1.04-1.16) to an adjusted OR of 11.7 (95% CI not reported) (P < .001). Preoperative cognitive impairment (adjusted OR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.4-2.7) was associated with postoperative delirium (adjusted OR, 17.0; 95% CI, 1.2-239.8; P < .05). Frailty was associated with a 3- to 13-fold increased risk of discharge to a facility (adjusted OR, 3.16 [95% CI, 1.0-9.99] to 13.02 [95% CI, 5.14-32.98]). Geriatric conditions may be associated with adverse surgical outcomes. A comprehensive evaluation of treatment goals and communication of realistic risk estimates are essential to guide individualized decision making.