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Older patients with cognitive impairment who undergo surgery are at excess risk for postoperative delirium and other complications. In this study, researchers examined whether a simple screening tool for cognitive impairment (the Mini-Cog, which consists of a clock-drawing task and short-term recall of three words) could predict postoperative complications. The Mini-Cog was administered preoperatively to 211 patients (age, ≥65) scheduled for elective hip or knee replacement. Patients with previous diagnoses of dementia were excluded.
Probable cognitive impairment was identified in 24% of patients, who scored ≤2 on the 5-point Mini-Cog. These patients were more likely than patients with higher scores to develop postoperative delirium (21% vs.…