Effect of preoperative tropisetron treatment on postoperative cognitive function: A retrospective cohort study

To investigate the effect of preoperative tropisetron treatment on postoperative cognitive function on the basis of patients’ Mini-Cog scale scores. In this retrospective cohort study, data were retrieved from the medical record database. This research did not involve concerns with patient safety and violation of their interests, and therefore, no ethical review was required. Depending on tropisetron exposure status, patients were assigned to the exposure group (86 patients) and the non-exposure group (74 patients). Patients in the exposure and non-exposure groups were administered tropisetron (10 mg; intravenously 15 minutes before operation) and other antiemetics, respectively. Data on the patients’ demographic characteristics, American society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification, comorbid underlying diseases, sleep quality, education level, anesthesia method, duration of fasting, intraoperative blood loss and fluid replacement, intraoperative minimum and maximum systolic blood pressures (SBPs), intraoperative minimum and maximum diastolic blood pressures (DBPs), postoperative Mini-Cog scale (a simple intelligence status assessment scale) score, and postoperative visual analogue scale (VAS) pain score were collected in both the groups. The postoperative Mini-Cog score (as an indicator of cognitive function) and the rate of postoperative cognitive impairment were compared between the exposure and non-exposure groups. A multifactorial logistic regression equation was constructed to analyze the factors associated with impaired cognitive function in the postoperative period. The postoperative cognitive impairment rate in the exposure group was significantly lower than that in the non-exposure group (3.5% vs 16.2%; P < .05). Multifactorial logistic regression analysis suggested that tropisetron was a protective factor for postoperative cognitive function, with a statistically significant effect (odds ratio [OR] = 5.04, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.31–19.4). Preoperative tropisetron exposure significantly reduces the incidence of postoperative cognitive impairment in patients, and it is a protective factor for postoperative cognitive function.