Why the study?
Anesthesia has been hypothesized to influence dementia risk due to potential neurotoxic effects, particularly in older patients where it may exacerbate neurodegenerative processes.
Does general or regional anesthesia increase the risk of dementia, AD, or ADRD in older patients?
Population
Older patients across eight population-based cohort studies
Comparison
General vs regional anesthesia
Design
Systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies
Authors
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Reassures on anesthesia choice in older adults; leaves open confirmation by higher-quality RCTs.
Does general or regional anesthesia increase the risk of dementia, AD, or ADRD in older patients?
General or regional anesthesia does not appear to increase the risk of dementia, AD, or ADRD in older patients, though the available evidence is of low quality.
Wang et al. (2025) studied this question.
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