Risk factors and prevention for postoperative delirium after orthopedic surgery

Postoperative delirium significantly delays the recovery of patients. This study sought to explore the risk factors and to prevent postoperative delirium after orthopedic surgery.

In the part of retrospective study, 456 cases over 70-year-old that underwent one of three types of orthopedic surgery were included and were defined as the retrospective group. The risk factors of postoperative delirium were analyzed by logistic regression. In the part of prospective study, 86 cases of the same age and the same surgery were included and were defined as the prospective group. Positive interventions were used by shortening the fasting time and increasing the perioperative rehydration. The differences of postoperative delirium incidence between the retrospective group and the prospective group were analyzed.

Compared with patients with normal postoperative electrolytes, postoperative creatinine <68.20 μmol/L, and fluid infusion during fasting >119.66 mL/h, postoperative electrolyte disorders (odds ratio [OR]: 2.864; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.374, 5.970), postoperative creatinine ≥68.20 μmol/L (OR: 2.660; 95% CI: 1.328, 5.328), and fluid infusion during fasting ≤119.66 mL/h (OR: 2.372; 95% CI: 1.197, 4.704) were the risk factors for postoperative delirium. After positive intervention, the postoperative delirium incidence of the prospective group was 5.8% (5/86), and it was lower than 18.4% (84/456) of the retrospective group (P < 0.05).

Elevated postoperative creatinine, postoperative electrolyte disorders, and lower fluid infusion during fasting were three risk factors for postoperative delirium. By shortening the fasting time and increasing the perioperative rehydration, the incidence of postoperative delirium could be reduced.