TY - JOUR
T1 - Feasibility and Rationale for Incorporating Frailty and Cognitive Screening Protocols in a Preoperative Anesthesia Clinic
AU - Amini, Shawna
AU - Crowley, Samuel
AU - Hizel, Loren
AU - Arias, Franchesca
AU - Libon, David J.
AU - Tighe, Patrick
AU - Giordano, Chris
AU - Garvan, Cynthia W.
AU - Enneking, F. Kayser
AU - Price, Catherine C.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grant No. R01 NR014181 [to C.C.P.], IIS-1404494 [to C.C.P.], R01 AG055337
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 International Anesthesia Research Society.
PY - 2019/9/1
Y1 - 2019/9/1
N2 - BACKGROUND: Advanced age, frailty, low education level, and impaired cognition are generally reported to be associated with postoperative cognitive complications. To translate research findings into hospital-wide preoperative assessment clinical practice, we examined the feasibility of implementing a preoperative frailty and cognitive assessment for all older adults electing surgical procedures in a tertiary medical center. We examined associations among age, education, frailty, and comorbidity with the clock and 3-word memory scores, estimated the prevalence of mild to major cognitive impairment in the presurgical sample, and examined factors related to hospital length of stay. METHODS: Medical staff screened adults ≥65 years of age for frailty, general cognition (via the clock-drawing test command and copy, 3-word memory test), and obtained years of education. Feasibility was studied in 2 phases: (1) a pilot phase involving 4 advanced nurse practitioners and (2) a 2-month implementation phase involving all preoperative staff. We tracked sources of missing data, investigated associations of study variables with measures of cognition, and used 2 approaches to estimate the likelihood of dementia in our sample (ie, using extant data and logistic regression modeling and using Mini-Cog cut scores). We explored which protocol variables related to hospital length of stay. RESULTS: The final implementation phase sample included 678 patients. Clock and 3-word memory scores were significantly associated with age, frailty, and education. Education, clock scores, and 3-word scores were not significantly different by surgery type. Likelihood of preoperative cognitive impairment was approximately 20%, with no difference by surgery type. Length of stay was significantly associated with preoperative comorbidity and performance on the clock copy condition. CONCLUSIONS: Frailty and cognitive screening protocols are feasible and provide information for perioperative care planning. Challenges to clinical adaptation include staff training, missing data, and additional administration time. These challenges appear minimal relative to the benefits of identifying frailty and cognitive impairment in a group at risk for negative postoperative cognitive outcome.
AB - BACKGROUND: Advanced age, frailty, low education level, and impaired cognition are generally reported to be associated with postoperative cognitive complications. To translate research findings into hospital-wide preoperative assessment clinical practice, we examined the feasibility of implementing a preoperative frailty and cognitive assessment for all older adults electing surgical procedures in a tertiary medical center. We examined associations among age, education, frailty, and comorbidity with the clock and 3-word memory scores, estimated the prevalence of mild to major cognitive impairment in the presurgical sample, and examined factors related to hospital length of stay. METHODS: Medical staff screened adults ≥65 years of age for frailty, general cognition (via the clock-drawing test command and copy, 3-word memory test), and obtained years of education. Feasibility was studied in 2 phases: (1) a pilot phase involving 4 advanced nurse practitioners and (2) a 2-month implementation phase involving all preoperative staff. We tracked sources of missing data, investigated associations of study variables with measures of cognition, and used 2 approaches to estimate the likelihood of dementia in our sample (ie, using extant data and logistic regression modeling and using Mini-Cog cut scores). We explored which protocol variables related to hospital length of stay. RESULTS: The final implementation phase sample included 678 patients. Clock and 3-word memory scores were significantly associated with age, frailty, and education. Education, clock scores, and 3-word scores were not significantly different by surgery type. Likelihood of preoperative cognitive impairment was approximately 20%, with no difference by surgery type. Length of stay was significantly associated with preoperative comorbidity and performance on the clock copy condition. CONCLUSIONS: Frailty and cognitive screening protocols are feasible and provide information for perioperative care planning. Challenges to clinical adaptation include staff training, missing data, and additional administration time. These challenges appear minimal relative to the benefits of identifying frailty and cognitive impairment in a group at risk for negative postoperative cognitive outcome.
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U2 - 10.1213/ANE.0000000000004190
DO - 10.1213/ANE.0000000000004190
M3 - Article
C2 - 31425227
AN - SCOPUS:85066307194
VL - 129
SP - 830
EP - 838
JO - Anesthesia and Analgesia
JF - Anesthesia and Analgesia
SN - 0003-2999
IS - 3
ER -