Perioperative medicine & outcomes
Psychological factors associated with postoperative cognitive outcomes in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Pooled result · Depression and postoperative deliriumResult — go to the resultOdds ratio 1.08 95% CI 0.97–1.20Authors' conclusion
Depression was the most consistently reported psychological risk factor for postoperative delirium in older adults, whereas evidence for anxiety, personality traits, and stress is limited.
Study context
- Population
- Adults aged 60 yr or older undergoing surgery
- Participants
- 6,714 adults · 30 studies
- Comparison
- Preoperative psychological factors and postoperative cognitive outcomes
- Outcome
- Depression and postoperative delirium
Methodological detailsrandom-effects meta-analysis, synthesis without meta-analysis, P-value synthesis, vote counting based on direction of effect
- Random-effects meta-analysis
- Synthesis without meta-analysis
- P-value synthesis
- Vote counting based on direction of effect
Pooled result
As reported in the abstract
Odds ratio
1.08
95% CI 0.97–1.20
Depression
OR 1.08 (95% CI 0.97–1.20)
Further pooled results
Postoperative delirium incidence
- Incidence range across studies
- 9% to 55.6%
- Assessed in all studies
Psychological factors and postoperative cognitive outcomes (synthesis without meta-analysis)
- Evidence of an association, number of studies
- 28
- P value
- P < 0.001
Original publication
Psychological factors associated with postoperative cognitive outcomes in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Anaesth. Published 27 February 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →