Incidence and risk factors for postoperative delirium after head and neck cancer surgery: an updated meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Postoperative delirium (POD) is a frequent neurologic dysfunction that often leads to more negative outcomes. Early identification of patients who are vulnerable to POD and early implementation of appropriate management strategies could decrease its occurrence and improve patient prognosis. Therefore, this meta-analysis comprehensively and quantitatively summarized the prevalence and related predictive factors of POD in head and neck cancer surgical patients. METHODS: PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched for observational studies that reported the prevalence and risk factors for POD after head and neck cancer surgery and were published from their inception until December 31, 2022. Two reviewers independently selected qualified articles and extracted data. The qualities of related papers were assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS). RevMan 5.3 and Stata 15.0 were applied to analysis the data and conduct the meta-analysis. RESULTS: Sixteen observational studies with 3289 inpatients who underwent head and neck cancer surgery were included in this review. The occurrence of POD ranged from 4.2 to 36.9%, with a pooled incidence of 20% (95% CI 15–24%, I(2) = 93.2%). The results of this pooled analysis demonstrated that the statistically significant risk factors for POD were increased age (OR: 1.05, 95% CI: 1.03–1.07, P < 0.001), age > 75 years (OR: 6.52, 95% CI: 3.07–13.87, P < 0.001), male sex (OR: 2.29, 95% CI: 1.06–4.97, P = 0.04), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists grade (OR: 2.19, 95% CI: 1.44–3.33, P < 0.001), diabetes mellitus (OR: 2.73, 95% CI: 1.24–6.01, P = 0.01), and history of smoking (OR: 2.74, 95% CI: 1.13–6.65, P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: POD frequently occurs after head and neck cancer surgery. Several independent predictors for POD were identified, which might contribute to identifying patients at high risk for POD and play a prominent role in preventing POD in patients following head and neck cancer surgery. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12883-023-03418-w.