Preoperative exercise capacity is associated with the prevalence of postoperative delirium in elective cardiac surgery.

Background: Postoperative delirium (POD) is a critical complication that is closely associated with mortality and major morbidity in elective cardiac surgery. The identification of patients at risk for POD is crucial but has not been fully explored.

Aims: The aim of this study was to determine the predictive value of the assessment of preoperative exercise capacity for POD.

Methods: We enrolled 313 consecutive patients (mean age, 68.6 ± 14.8 years) undergoing elective cardiac surgery. We measured physical functions such as the 6-minute walking distance (6MWD) and Timed Up-and-Go test (TUG) before surgery. The assessment of delirium was conducted every 8 h from the day of surgery to 5 days after surgery using the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist.

Results: POD occurred in 46 patients (14.6%). Age, 6MWD, TUG, serum hemoglobin, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and length of intensive care unit stay were significantly different based on the presence or absence of POD (p < 0.05 for each). After multivariate analysis, 6MWD remained a statistically significant indicator for developing POD (OR 0.98; p = 0.02). The cut-off value of 6MWD for predicting POD was 345 m (AUC = 0.75; p = 0.001).

Conclusions: Poor exercise capacity was found to be an independent predictor of POD following elective cardiac surgery. This finding suggests the importance of preoperative functional evaluation in the prevention and management of POD in cardiac surgery patients.