Association of cholinesterase activities and POD in older adult abdominal surgical patients

BACKGROUND: Postoperative delirium (POD) is a frequent complication after surgery. Older adult patients undergoing abdominal surgery are at higher risk for developing POD. Studies on the association of cholinesterase activities and POD are rare, but leading hypotheses implicate that the cholinergic pathway might play an important role in neuroinflammation and development of POD. The objective of this study was to figure out if there is an association between the development of POD and acetyl- and butyrylcholinesterase (AChE and BuChE) activities in older adult patients undergoing abdominal surgery. METHODS: The investigation was performed with a subpopulation of BioCog study patients. The BioCog project (http://www.biocog.eu) is a prospective multicenter observational study in older adult surgical patients. Patients ≥ 65 years undergoing elective surgery of at least 60 minutes who scored more than 23 points in the Mini-Mental-State-Examination were included. POD was assessed twice a day on seven consecutive days after the surgery, using the test instruments Nursing Delirium Screening Scale (Nu-Desc) and Confusion Assessment Method (CAM and CAM-ICU) and a patient chart review. Pre- and postoperative blood cholinesterase activities were measured with a photometric rapid-point-of-care-testing. The association between cholinesterase activities and POD was analyzed in a subpopulation of abdominal surgical patients using multivariable logistic regression analysis adjusting for confounders. RESULTS: One hundred twenty-seven patients were included for analysis (mean age 73 years, 59% female). Fifty-two patients (41%) fulfilled the criteria of POD. These patients were significantly older, had a longer time of surgery and anesthesia and achieved higher comorbidity scores compared to patients without POD. After adjusting for age, duration of surgery and charlson comorbity index, we found an association between pre- and postoperative AChE activity (U/gHb) and the development of POD (Odds ratio (OR), [95% confidence interval (CI)], preoperative 0.95 [0.89–1.00], postoperative 0.94 [0.89–1.00]). CONCLUSIONS: We found an association between POD and AChE activity and provided new information considering patients with abdominal surgery. Future analyses should examine course dynamics of postoperative cholinesterase activities in order to clarify interactions between the cholinergic system and pathophysiological mechanisms leading to POD. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02265263. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12871-022-01826-y.