Perioperative medicine & outcomes
Peak alpha frequency and spectral exponent in postoperative delirium: a high-density EEG cohort study
Authors' conclusion
Lower mean PAF and steeper SE are consistent with slower neuronal repolarisation and increased inhibition in delirium.
Study context
- Population
- Patients aged >65 yr undergoing major surgery at a major quaternary care hospital, 2015 to 2025113 followed up at 1 yr
- Participants
- 202 patients
- Exposure
- Postoperative delirium vs no delirium
- Deliriumn = 33
- Non-deliriumn = 169reference
- Outcome
- Association of PAF and SE with postoperative delirium
Methodological detailshigh-density 256-channel EEG, single-centre
- High-density 256-channel EEG
- Single-centre
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
PAF and spectral exponent after surgery
- After surgery, mean peak alpha frequency (PAF) significantly slower and mean spectral exponent significantly steeper vs preoperative and 1-yr postoperative values
- P<0.0001
- These changes larger in the delirium vs non-delirium group
- P<0.05 to P<0.001
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Executive function (Trail Making Test-B (TMT-B)) and inflammation (plasma cytokines) · pre to post surgery
- Decreases in PAF or spectral exponent significantly associated with increases in TMT-B time and cytokine levels
Original publication
Peak alpha frequency and spectral exponent in postoperative delirium: a high-density EEG cohort study. BJA Open. Published 1 July 2026. doi:10.
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