Early incident and subsyndromal delirium in older patients undergoing elective surgical procedures: a randomized clinical trial of an avoid delirium protocol.

Background: Pharmacological avoidance guidelines for preventing delirium have been suggested; however, there are limited pragmatic studies of these strategies. Early (<24 h) delirium can be observed in the postoperative care unit and is associated with an increased risk of subsequent delirium. We examined the effectiveness of an avoid delirium protocol (ADP) in older (>65 years) patients undergoing elective surgeries. Methods: The randomized controlled trial assessed an ADP developed using the American Geriatric Society's Clinical Practice Guidelines for Postoperative Delirium in Older Adults, on early (<24 h) incident or subsyndromal delirium. Delirium was assessed using the confusion assessment method before surgery, in the post-anesthesia care unit, and on postoperative day 1. The primary outcome of early delirium was the combined incidence of incident or subsyndromal delirium. Results: Early delirium was identified in 24/235 patients (10.2%) with a risk ratio of 1.27 (95% CI 0.59-2.73, P = 0.667) for patients randomized to the ADP. In cases with protocol adherence and no benzodiazepine use, early delirium was present in 10/ 73 (13.7%) compared to 14/148 (9.5%) in non-adherent cases [risk ratio 1.45 (95% CI 0.57-3.10, P = 0.362)]. Lower American Society of Anesthesiologists physical class [odds ratio 3.31 (95% CI 1.35-8.92, P = 0.008)] and an inpatient admission [odds ratio 2.67 (95% CI 1.55-4.87, P = 0.0002)] were associated with early delirium. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that pharmacological avoidance protocols limiting or avoiding the use of specific classes of medications are not effective in reducing early incident or subsyndromal delirium in older patients undergoing elective surgery.

Trajectories of opioid consumption from day of surgery to 28 days postoperatively: a prospective cohort study in patients undergoing abdominal, joint, or spine surgery.

INTRODUCTION: Descriptions of opioid use trajectories and their association with postsurgical pain and opioid consumption are limited. We hypothesized that trajectories of opioid consumption in the first 28 days following surgery would be associated with unique patterns of pain and duration of opioid use. METHODS: A prospective longitudinal cohort of patients undergoing elective inpatient abdominal, joint, or spine surgery between June 2016 and June 2019 was studied. At hospital discharge and every 7 days for 28 days, patients were assessed for pain, analgesic use, pain interference, satisfaction, and side effects. Duration of opioid use was determined for 6 months. The primary analysis used latent class group modeling to identify trajectories of opioid use. RESULTS: Decreasing, high, and persistent opioid trajectories were identified following joint and spine surgery and a decreasing and persistent trajectory following abdominal surgery. Reported pain was greater in the high and persistent trajectories compared with the decreasing use trajectories. Compared with the decreasing opioid trajectory, the median duration of opioid use was increased by 4.5 (95% CI 1 to 22, p<0.01) weeks in persistent opioid use abdominal and by 6 (95% CI 0 to 6, p<0.01) weeks in the high or persistent use joint and spine groups. The odds (95% CI) of opioid use at 6 months in the high or persistent opioid use trajectory was 24.3 (2.9 to 203.4) for abdominal and 3.7 (1.9 to 7.0) for joint or spine surgery compared with the decreasing use trajectory. Morphine milliequivalent per 24 hours of hospitalization was the primary independent predictor of opioid use trajectories. CONCLUSIONS: We observed distinct opioid use trajectories following abdominal and joint or spine surgery that were associated with different patterns of pain and duration of opioid use postoperatively. Prediction of postoperative opioid use trajectory groups may be clinically important for identifying risk of prolonged opioid use.

Preoperative cognitive-behavioral therapy for reducing pain catastrophizing and improving pain outcomes after total knee replacement: a randomized clinical trial.

INTRODUCTION: Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can reduce preoperative pain catastrophizing and may improve postsurgical pain outcomes. We hypothesized that CBT would reduce pain catastrophizing more than no-CBT controls and result in improved pain outcomes. METHODS: The study was a randomized controlled trial of patients undergoing elective total knee arthroplasty between January 2013 and March 2020. In phase 1, the change in pain catastrophizing scores (PCS) among 4-week or 8-week telehealth, 4-week in person and no-CBT sessions was compared in 80 patients with a PCS >16. In phase 2, the proportion of subjects that achieved a 3-month decrease in Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis (WOMAC) pain subscale >4 following 4-week telehealth CBT with no-CBT controls were compared in 80 subjects. RESULTS: In phase 1, 4-week telehealth CBT had the highest completion rate 17/20 (85%), demonstrated an adjusted median reduction in PCS of -9 (95% CI -1 to -14, p<0.01) compared with no-CBT and was non-inferior to 8-week telehealth CBT at a margin of 2 (p=0.02). In phase 2, 29 of 35 (83%) in the 4-week telehealth CBT and 26 of 33 (79%) subjects in the no-CBT demonstrated a decrease in the WOMAC pain subscale >4 at 3 months, difference 4% (95% CI -18% to 26%, p=0.48), despite a median decrease in the PCS for the 4-week CBT and no-CBT group of -6 (-10 to -2, p=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate that CBT interventions delivered prior to surgery in person or via telehealth can reduced PCS scores; however, this reduction did not lead to improved 3-month pain outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01772329, registration date 21 January 2013).