Postoperative delirium in elderly patients after gastrointestinal surgery

Abstract

Objective To study postoperative delirium in elderly patients. Methods We investigate the morbidity of postoperative delirium in 142 elderly patients(≥60 years)after gastrointestinal surgery by using Confusion Assessment Method(CAM) and Delirium Rating Scale Revised-98 (DRS-R98) scores. Data were analyzed using Student′s t test and Chi-squaretest respectively with SPSS 19.0. Results Of 142 patients, delirium was diagnosed in 36 patients(25.4%), delirium developed in 4, 7, 17, 7, 1 patients in posto perative 1, 2, 3, 4-7, 7+ days respectively.There were significant difference in hospital stay: 17.7±2.6 days (postoperative delirium) and 13.4±2.3 days(no postoperative delirium), t=4.608, P=0.000 1.The postoperative complications (52.8% / 23.6%, χ2=10.710, P=0.001) and ICU admission (22.2%/6.6%, χ2=6.939, P=0.008) significantly increased. Conclusions Postoperative delirium is recognized as one of the most common surgical complications in elderly patients with gastrointestinal surgery leading to other major postoperative complications, and prolonged hospitalization. Key words: Delirium; Postoperative complication; Incidence; Elderly