Incidence of Cognitive Decline 5 Years after Orthopaedic Surgery According to Method of Assessment

Abstract

BackgroundOlder adults who undergo elective surgery may be at risk of an altered cognitive trajectory leading to long‐term decline. We investigated the incidence of cognitive decline in the elderly following elective non‐cardiac surgery five years post‐operatively and examined whether differences in classification criteria for cognitive outcomes resulted in different incidence rates.MethodWe prospectively studied older adults following orthopaedic surgery, alongside non‐surgical control participants. All participants completed a battery of neuropsychological tests before surgery and again five years postoperatively. We classified Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction (POCD), (a change‐based co..