Introduction
Post-operative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is defined as a decrease in
cognitive functions which develop following surgery and anesthesia
administration that may continue weeks or even months after surgery (1).
POCD clinical signs include psychomotor imbalance, memory loss,
dementia, difficulties in fine-motor skills and upper level cognitive
dysfunctions (2). Sensitive tests reported that this decline in
psychomotor and cognitive functions in those patients following surgery
may last from a week to three months and even in some rare cases, up to
1-2 years (3).
Previous studies on non-cardiac surgery patients over 18-age reported
POCD incidence rate is between 19-41% (2). This rate may increase to
80% following cardiac surgery (4). In elderly hip replacement surgery
patients, this rate is reported to be between 15-60% (5). The most
common risk factors for POCD development were reported as advanced age,
presence of comorbidities, scale of operation and post-operative pain
(6). However, there are no studies in the literature that revealed the
effect of prolonged preoperative hospitalization duration on POCD
development.
In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of preoperative
hospitalization period on early POCD development and its risk factors in
patients undergoing total hip replacement surgery for hip fractures
under regional anesthesia.