Perioperative medicine & outcomes
Volatile versus intravenous anesthesia and postoperative neurocognition: A meta-analysis and trial-sequential analysis
Pooled resultResult — go to the resultRelative risk 0.94 95% CI 0.71–1.25Authors' conclusion
The incidence of postoperative delirium was similar with volatile and intravenous anesthesia. Volatile anesthesia provoked small, heterogeneous, and time-dependent differences in delayed neurocognitive recovery, but not of a meaningful magnitude.
Study context
- Population
- Patients undergoing anesthesia and surgery
- Participants
- 11,896 patients · 29 trials
- Comparison
- Volatile vs intravenous anesthesia for GA maintenance
- Outcome
- Postoperative delirium
- Follow-up
- Within 7 postoperative days
Methodological detailstrial sequential analysis
- Trial sequential analysis
Pooled result
As reported in the abstract
Relative risk
0.94
95% CI 0.71–1.25
Volatile vs Intravenous
RR 0.94 (95% CI 0.71–1.25)
Further pooled results
| Outcome | RR (95% CI) | |
|---|---|---|
| Delayed neurocognitive recoveryEffects inconsistent across assessment periods · substantial heterogeneity | 1.35 (1.07–1.70) | |
| 0.512Relative risk (log scale) |
| Outcome | Mean difference (points) (95% CI) | |
|---|---|---|
| Postoperative MMSE scores (range 0 to 30, higher better; 2 points meaningful) · postoperative days 1, 3, and 7Not considered clinically meaningful · substantial heterogeneity | −1.4 (−2.2 to −0.6) | |
| −3−2−101Difference, points (linear scale) |
Trial sequential analysis
- More trials needed for each outcome
Original publication
Volatile versus intravenous anesthesia and postoperative neurocognition: A meta-analysis and trial-sequential analysis. J Clin Anesth. Published 11 June 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →