Perioperative medicine & outcomes
Association between postoperative delirium in the postanaesthesia care unit and subsequent ward delirium: A retrospective cohort study
Main finding · Ward-PODResult — go to the resultAdjusted odds ratio 4.4 95% CI 3.2–6.3Authors' conclusion
PACU-POD is a strong early marker of increased risk for ward-POD and other postoperative complications.
Study context
- Population
- Patients aged at least 70 years undergoing elective noncardiac, noncranial surgery under GA, 2020–2022
- Participants
- 3,781 patients
- Exposure
- PACU-POD vs no PACU-POD
- PACU-PODn = 341
- Outcome
- Ward-POD
Methodological detailssingle-centre, tertiary academic hospital
- Single-centre
- Tertiary academic hospital
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Adjusted odds ratio
4.4
95% CI 3.2–6.3
P < 0.001
By group
PACU-POD
24.6
%
No PACU-POD
4.3%
PACU-POD vs No PACU-POD
aOR 4.4 (95% CI 3.2–6.3); P < 0.001
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Secondary outcomes
| Outcome | aOR (95% CI) | |
|---|---|---|
| In-hospital falls | 2.3 (1.2–4.4) | |
| 30-day mortality | 4.4 (1.5–13.0) | |
| 0.050.21520Adjusted odds ratio (log scale) |
PACU LOS (exploratory)
P < 0.001
Hospital LOS (exploratory)
P = 0.01
- Incidence of PACU-POD
- 9.1% · 341
Original publication
Association between postoperative delirium in the postanaesthesia care unit and subsequent ward delirium: A retrospective cohort study. Eur J Anaesthesiol. Published 22 January 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →