The number of elective surgeries for patients who are over 70 years of age is continuously growing. At the same time, postoperative delirium (POD) is common in older patients (5–60%) depending on predisposing risk factors, such as multimorbidity, cognitive impairment, neurodegenerative disorders and other dementing disorders, and precipitating factors, such as duration of surgery. Knowledge of individual risk profiles prior to elective surgery may help to identify patients at increased risk for development of POD. In this study, clinical and cognitive risk factors for POD were investigated in patients undergoing various elective cardiac and non-cardiac surgeries.

Presurgical Screening Improves Risk Prediction for Delirium in Elective Surgery of Older Patients: The PAWEL RISK Study.
Eschweiler GW, Czornik M, Herrmann ML, Knauer YP, Forkavets O, von Arnim CAF, Denkinger M, Küster O, Conzelmann L, Metz BR, Maurer C, Kentischer F, Deeken F, Sánchez A, Wagner S, Mennig E, Thomas C, Rapp MA.
Front Aging Neurosci. 2021 Jul 27;13:679933. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2021.679933. eCollection 2021.