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  • CSF Beta-amyloid 1-42 Concentration Predicts Delirium Following Elective Arthroplasty Surgery in an Observational Cohort Study

    Emma L Cunningham, Bernadette McGuinness, Daniel F McAuley, Jamie Toombs, Tim Mawhinney, Seamus O'Brien, David Beverland, Jonathan M Schott, Michael P Lunn, Henrik Zetterberg, Anthony P Passmore
    Annals of Surgery
    doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000002684
    ______________________________________________________________________________________________

    Objective
    To test the hypothesis that APOE ε4 status and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) Aβ42, T-tau and P-tau would independently predict the risk of postoperative delirium.

    Background
    Delirium following surgery is common and associated with adverse outcomes. Age and cognitive impairment are consistent risk factors for postoperative delirium.

    Methods
    This observational cohort study recruited 282 participants aged 65 years or older, without a diagnosis of dementia, admitted for primary elective hip or knee arthroplasty. Cognitive tests were undertaken preoperatively, blood and CSF were sampled at the time of spinal anesthesia, and participants were assessed daily postoperatively for delirium.

    Results
    Increasing age (P = 0.04), preoperative comorbidity (P = 0.03), type of surgery (P = 0.05), intravenous opioid usage (P = 0.04), and low CSF Aβ42 (P < 0.01) were independent predictors of postoperative delirium.

    Conclusions
    This study is the first to show an independent association between CSF Aβ42 and delirium incidence in an elective surgical population, suggesting that postoperative delirium may indicate incipient Alzheimer disease.

  • Cerebrospinal Fluid Spermidine, Glutamine and Putrescine Predict Postoperative Delirium Following Elective Orthopaedic Surgery

    Xiaobei Pan, Emma L Cunningham, Anthony P Passmore, Bernadette McGuinness, Daniel F McAuley, David Beverland, Seamus O'Brien, Tim Mawhinney, Jonathan M Schott, Henrik Zetterberg, Brian D Green
    Scientfic Reports
    DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-40544-3
    ______________________________________________________________________________________________

    Delirium is a marker of brain vulnerability, associated with increasing age, pre-existing cognitive impairment and, recently, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease. This nested case-control study used a targeted quantitative metabolomic methodology to profile the preoperative CSF of patients (n = 54) who developed delirium following arthroplasty (n = 28) and those who did not (n = 26). The aim was to identify novel preoperative markers of delirium, and to assess potential correlations with clinical data. Participants without a diagnosis of dementia (≥65 years) undergoing elective primary hip or knee arthroplasty were postoperatively assessed for delirium once-daily for three days. Groups were compared using multivariate, univariate and receiving operator characteristic (ROC) methods. Multivariate modelling using Orthogonal Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA) of metabolomic data readily distinguished between delirium and control groups (R2 ≤ 0.56; Q2 ≤ 0.10). Three metabolites (spermidine, putrescine and glutamine) significantly differed between groups (P < 0.05; FDR < 0.07), and performed well as CSF biomarkers (ROC > 0.75). The biomarker performance of the two polyamines (spermidine/putrescine) was enhanced by ratio with CSF Aβ42 (ROC > 0.8), and spermidine significantly correlated with Aβ42 (pearson r = -0.32; P = 0.018). These findings suggest that spermidine and putrescine levels could be useful markers of postoperative delirium risk, particularly when combined with Aβ42, and this requires further investigation.

  • Observational cohort study examining apolipoprotein E status and preoperative neuropsychological performance as predictors of post-operative delirium in an older elective arthroplasty population

    Emma Louise Cunningham, Tim Mawhinney, David Beverland, Seamus O'Brien, Daniel F McAuley, Rebecca Cairns, Peter Passmore, Bernadette McGuinness
    Age Ageing
    DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afx042
    ______________________________________________________________________________________________

    Introduction: delirium following surgery is common and is associated with negative outcomes. Preoperative cognitive impairment has been shown to be a risk factor for post-operative delirium. Often the cognitive tests used are cumbersome. This study tests the hypothesis that the quantification of brain vulnerability, using Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) status and neuropsychological tests, both traditional and more easily administered, can quantify the risk of post-operative delirium following elective primary arthroplasty surgery.

    Methods: this observational cohort study recruited participants aged 65 years or older admitted prior to elective primary hip or knee arthroplasty. Baseline data was collected and participants underwent neuropsychological testing and had blood taken for ApoE genotyping preoperatively. Post-operatively participants were assessed daily for delirium using the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) and charts were reviewed where possible for reports of delirium. Univariate and multivariate analyses of preoperative factors were undertaken to identify independent predictors of delirium.

    Results: between March 2012 and October 2014, 315 participants completed the study with an overall incidence of post-operative delirium of 40/315 (12.7%). Of these 18 fulfilled the CAM criteria for delirium and 22 were deemed delirious by consensus decision based on chart review. ApoE genotype was not associated with post-operative delirium in this cohort. Time taken to complete Colour Trails 2, errors in mini mental state examination and level of pain preoperatively were independent predictors of post-operative delirium.

    Conclusions: this study challenges the assertion that ApoE4 genotype predicts post-operative delirium. It replicates previous work suggesting cognitive impairment predicts post-operative delirium and shows for the 1st time that simple cognitive tests can be as effective as more detailed tests.

    Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; cognition; delirium; executive dysfunction; older people; orthopaedic; post-operative cognitive dysfunction; post-operative delirium; subsyndromal; surgery.

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