Background: Post-operative delirium (POD) is a common complication in elderly patients undergoing surgery, but the underpinning causes are not clear. We hypothesized that inflammaging, the subclinical low and chronic grade inflammation characteristic of old people, can contribute to POD onset. Accordingly, we investigated the association of pre-operative and circulating cytokines in elderly patients (>65 years), admitted for elective and emergency surgery.Methods: This is a secondary analysis of a sub-cohort of patients belonging to a previous large case–control study, where 351 patients were clinically and cognitively thoroughly characterized, together with the assessment of POD (47 patients) by confusion assessment method and delirium rating scale. Seventy-four pre-operative plasma samples were selected from a larger bio-bank and they included 37 subjects with POD and 37 without POD. Inflammaging related cytokines, i.e., IL-1β, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and TNF-α, were assayed by ELISA in pre-operative blood samples; univariate and multivariable analyses have been applied to identify cytokines independently associated to POD. Associations of cytokine levels with functional status, cognitive decline, intra-hospital mortality, and comorbidity were also analyzed independently of POD onset.Results: High IL-6 and low-IL-2 levels were significantly associated with POD. After adjustment for potential confounders in multivariate analysis, high level of pre-operative IL-6 was confirmed to be significantly associated with risk of POD onset. High level of IL-6 was also associated with several baseline features (including poor functional status, cognitive impairment, emergency admission, and higher comorbidity burden) and intra-hospital mortality.Conclusion: Pre-operative, high-plasma level of IL-6 (≥9 pg/mL) was significantly associated with POD onset. We propose IL-6 as an additional risk factor of POD onset together with the previously identified factors. Discovery of all risk factors contributing to POD onset will permit to improve hospitalized patient management and the decrease of healthcare cost.

The aim of this review is to identify an evidence-based perioperative management for patients affected by Alzheimer's disease (AD) that are scheduled to undergo surgery. This will minimize the negative effects of anesthesia and postoperative sedation and correct those perioperative variables possibly responsible for a decline in cognitive status and a worsening of AD. We here gather evidence on the importance of correct preoperative assessment regarding cognitive and functional status and the presence of preoperative delirium. The potential role of anesthesia, surgery, and postoperative analgosedation as risk factors for development of delirium are herein outlined. Finally, pain assessment instruments, as well as principles of management strategies for postoperative delirium in subjects with AD, are suggested.

The I-MPSS showed satisfactory psychometric and validation properties. With adequate feasibility, it enabled the screening of mixed non-cancer-pain outpatients in three chronicity/prognostic stages. Results are sufficient to warrant its use for a subsequent impact study as a prognostic model and screening tool for referring pain patients.

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The CoDem protocol was shown to be effective and reasonably tolerated for titration for moderate/severe cancer pain relief in both opioid-naïve or opioid-tolerant cancer in-patients. This pilot assessment warrants prospective and comparative studies with larger samples for more generalized results.