OCCURRENCE AND PREDICTORS OF SHORT-TERM MENTAL AND FUNCTIONAL-CHANGESIN OLDER ADULTS UNDERGOING ELECTIVE SURGERY UNDER GENERAL-ANESTHESIA

The authors studied the cognitive, affective, and functional status of 172 mentally healthy patients, age 55 and older, who were undergoing elective surgery under general anesthesia. Patients were interviewed b efore and after surgery; this report focuses on changes 1 month post-o peratively. Authors compared the mental status and function of 190 non surgical patients of comparable age. Surgical patients showed a tempor ary functional decline. Linear regression predictors of affective, cog nitive, and functional change at follow-up included demographics, base line measures of mental status and function, surgery type, and intraop erative measures. Longer duration of anesthesia-but not type of surger y-predicted short-term decline in activities of daily living but not c ognition or affect. Authors discuss results in the context of previous findings in which surgery had no impact on mental status or function at 10-month follow-up.