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Surgical Exposure and Dementia

Is it a risk factor?

Publish date:: December 22, 2015

Surgical exposure is a risk factor for cognitive and functional decline in older adults, according to a study of 182 older adults who had surgery and 345 older adults who did not. Researchers found:

• People who had surgery experienced a more rapid rate of deterioration vs nonsurgical people in several cognitive, functional, and brain MRI measures.

• There was a significant synergistic effect of anesthesia/surgery exposure and presence of the APOE4 allele in the decline of multiple cognitive and functional measures.

Citation: Schenning KJ, Murchison CF, Mattek NC, Silbert LC, Kaye JA, Quinn JF. Surgery is associated with ventricular enlargement as well as cognitive and functional decline. [Published online ahead of print November 20, 2015]. Alzheimers Dement. doi: 10.1016/j.jalz.2015.10.004.

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