• Hyun-Jung Shin, Woo NamSunSDepartment of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Korea., Heeyeon Kim, Subin Yim, Sung-Hee Han, Jung-Won Hwang, Sang-Hwan Do, and Hyo-Seok Na.
• Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Korea; and Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
• Anesthesiology. 2023 Feb 1; 138 (2): 164171164-171.

BackgroundDelirium is a critical postoperative complication in older patients. Based on the hypothesis that intraoperative dexmedetomidine sedation would lower postoperative delirium than propofol sedation would, the authors compared the incidence of postoperative delirium in older adults, using the mentioned sedatives.MethodsThis double-blinded, randomized controlled study included 748 patients, aged 65 yr or older, who were scheduled for elective lower extremity orthopedic surgery, between June 2017 and October 2021. Patients were randomized equally into two groups in a 1:1 ratio according to the intraoperative sedative used (dexmedetomidine vs. propofol). The postoperative delirium incidence was considered the primary outcome measure; it was determined using the confusion assessment method, on the first three postoperative days. The mean arterial pressure and heart rate were evaluated as secondary outcomes.ResultsThe authors enrolled 732 patients in the intention-to-treat analyses. The delirium incidence was lower in the dexmedetomidine group than in the propofol group (11 [3.0%] vs. 24 [6.6%]; odds ratio, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.201 to 0.86; P = 0.036). During sedation, the mean arterial pressure (median [interquartile range] mmHg) was higher in the dexmedetomidine group (77 [71 to 84]) than in the propofol group (74 [69 to 79]; P < 0.001); however, it significantly fell lower (74 [68 to 80]) than that of the propofol group (80 [74 to 87]) in the postanesthesia care unit (P < 0.001). Lower heart rates (beats/min) were recorded with the use of dexmedetomidine than with propofol, both during sedation (60 [55 to 66] vs. 63 [58 to 70]) and in the postanesthesia care unit (64 [58 to 72] vs. 68 [62-77]; P < 0.001).ConclusionsDexmedetomidine showed a lower incidence of postoperative delirium than propofol in healthy older adults undergoing lower extremity orthopedic surgery.Copyright © 2022, the American Society of Anesthesiologists. All Rights Reserved.

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