Age and other risk factors for neuropsychologic decline in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery

Objective: To evaluate ii increasing age is a major determinant of long-ter m neuropsychologic (NP) dysfunction in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: A single university hospital. Participants: Three hundred eighty-o ne patients undergoing elective CABG surgery. Interventions: Baseline preoperative and intraoperative characteristics wer e assessed for all patients. A comprehensive hip test battery was conducted preoperatively and at 1 month postoperatively. Measurements and Main Results: Of the initial 381 patients, 319 (84%) retur ned for the 1-month visit. The overall incidence of an NP deficit was 21.6% . There was no significant difference seen with increasing age, although a trend was observed with highest hip deficit rate in the older than 65 age g roup. Other preoperative risk factors, including gender, education level, a nd preexisting diseases, were nonsignificant. Intraoperative variables were evaluated and revealed no significant differences across the age groups. Conclusions: This cohort study did not find an increased incidence of NP de ficits in elderly patients after CABG surgery. It has addressed the limitat ions of other studies, however, with (1) a comprehensive NP test battery, ( 2) longer-term follow-up, and (3) adequate sample size. Copyright (C) 2000 by W.B. Saunders Company.