Anaesthesia
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Observational Study
Prospective comparison of three methods for detecting peri-operative neurocognitive disorders in older adults undergoing cardiac and non-cardiac surgery.
Postoperative neurocognitive disorders occur frequently in older adult patients. Neuropsychological assessment is the gold standard for diagnosis, but the resources required for routine use are significant. Instead, it is common for simplified and unvalidated tests to be used for trials and in clinical practice. ⋯ Overall, there was limited agreement between tests. We conclude that the Modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status and Montreal Cognitive Assessment should not be used in isolation to diagnose postoperative neurocognitive disorders. There seems to be little to no pre-operative, postoperative or pre- to postoperative correlation between these tests and the neuropsychological assessment in older adults without pre-operative cognitive impairment.