Cognitive decline among older adults: A hidden preexisting condition and its role in 'brain‐at‐risk' surgical patients.

Approximately 31% of cardiac surgery patients who completed baseline CBB testing had major pre-CI (20 of 64 patients have already been tested, from a projected sample size of 2,400). Another study of 215 older adults who were undergoing major elective surgery, similarly reported that 121 patients had performance criteria of pre-CI, yet only two patients had any prior documented diagnosis of cognitive impairment (Smith & Yeow, 2016). Keywords: anesthesia; cognitive assessment screening instrument; mild neurocognitive disorder; neurocognitive tests; postoperative cognitive disorder EN anesthesia cognitive assessment screening instrument mild neurocognitive disorder neurocognitive tests postoperative cognitive disorder 1 6 6 05/19/21 20210501 NES 210501 Preexisting cognitive impairment is an important, but underrecognized, predictor of postoperative neurocognitive dysfunction, a common and important sequela of surgery. While P-NCD can affect any patient after surgery, its incidence and consequences are highest among older adults with rates estimated to be between 10% and 30% at 3 months after surgery, depending on surgical procedure (Knipp et al., 2017; Moller et al., 1998; Monk et al., 2008). [Extracted from the article]