General Anesthesia Raises Dementia Risk Among Elderly Patients

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The French Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) and the University of Bordeaux have presented findings that exposure to general anesthesia could increase dementia risk in the elderly by 35 percent. The research was presented yesterday at Euroanaesthesia, the annual congress of the European Society of Anesthesiology in Barcelona, Friday May 31, 2013.

The study was conducted to 7,008 participants with the average age of 65 who received general anesthesia. Each examination included a complete assessment of cognitive functioning and systematic screening for dementia. The participants were interviewed at the start of the study and subsequently two, four, seven and ten years after.

The result showed that 632 participants, or around 9 percent, had a dementia in the period of eight years after the operation, and most of them had Alzheimer.

The study also revealed that dementia was caused by clumps of a protein stick to brain cells when the patient was exposed to general anesthesia, which affects changes in memory, mood and behavior. Another study has suggested that some anesthetic drugs could promote inflammation of brain tissue in a way that is characteristic of dementia.

Unfortunately, general anesthesia still has to be given to the elderly who undergo major operations. "The study also shows that dementia can be caused by other factors, such as genetic and environment factor, and research into dementia still has a long way to go," said Eric Karran Alzheimer’s Researcher from UK, as quoted by Daily Mail.

ANGGRITA DESYANI