Study: Multiple Surgeries May Cause Cognitive Decline
1 october 2024
University of Sydney researchers have studied 20-years' worth of health records from the U.K. Patients ranged from 40- to 69-years of age. They found that for elderly patients, brain function diminished slightly, depending on the number of surgical procedures an individual has had.
Half a million records were scanned from the U.K.'s 'Biobank' records system. Online news service MedicalXpress recently reported the findings, which in part stated: "...multiple surgeries have a small effect on memory, reaction time, task-switching and problem-solving for older patients with each additional surgery."
The University of Sydney publication in The Lancet Healthy Longevity can be found here:
Jennifer Taylor et al, Association between surgical admissions, cognition, and neurodegeneration in older people: a population-based study from the UK Biobank, The Lancet Healthy Longevity (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.lanhl.2024.07.006