12 years of data show that the impact of general anesthesia on brain function is less than the risk factors of other patients

After general anesthesia, elderly patients usually experience cognitive decline, which can last for months or even years

A 12-year follow-up study of 1823 adults (aged between 25 and 84) showed that patient factors such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and lower education level are more important than repeated general anesthesia.

At the annual meeting of the European Association of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care (ESAIC), these findings can help people keep thinking sharp in old age

Postoperative cognitive decline (POCD) is characterized by impaired memory and attention, which may be temporary or lasting for months to years of surgery [1]

It is more and more common for the elderly to undergo surgery.

In order to find out whether repeated general anesthesia surgery in a person's life would have a negative impact on their natural cognitive decline, Dutch researchers analyzed 1823 adults (average age 51 years old, 50% male) and found The knowledge function is normal and comes from the practice of the registered network family-a registration representing the population of the Netherlands

Participants were interviewed at the beginning of the study, followed by interviews 6 and 12 years later

Patients who have undergone more than two general anesthesia studies started with mostly elderly and have other diseases such as hypertension, coronary artery disease, or high cholesterol (hypercholesterolemia), and those who have never had surgery under general anesthesia

After adjusting for factors known to be associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline, including age, gender, education level, smoking status, alcoholism, and other diseases, the researchers found that patients who had received at least one general anesthesia were tested on Stroop (selective Attention and thinking speed) are worse than those who have never undergone surgery

Conversely, research results show that people with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, a history of smoking, and low education have a greater impact on long-term cognitive decline compared with general anesthesia

For example, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes have a significant impact on two of the four cognitive domain tests (selective attention, thinking speed, and information processing speed), while education level has a significant impact on all four cognitive domains Significant impact (see Table 2)

"In a person's life, cognitive ability will naturally continue to decline, so after 12 years, almost all people participating in the research will experience some form of cognitive decline

"Our research shows that under general anesthesia, repeated surgery has little effect on long-term cognitive decline, and has slight impairments to the ability to focus on specific tasks and the speed of processing information and making decisions based on information

The authors point out that their research is observational, so the cause cannot be determined