Mass General - Division of Clinical Research

Conditions

• Delirium, Postoperative
• Cognitive Decline
• Dementia

Eligibility

Eligible Ages

Over 70 Years

Eligible Genders

All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Recruiting Locations

Study Contact

Detailed Description

This study is a prospective, observational study designed to identify changes in protein biomarkers levels as a function of delirium incidence and delirium severity scores based on Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) scores from postoperative days 1-3. Additionally, patients will wear an actiwatch to monitor sleep/circadian rhythm biomarkers for one week leading up to surgery and then again for one week after their one-month follow-up appointment. There is no intervention being tested in this study. Accepted standard of care involving all clinical procedures, pain management, and anesthesia and surgical care, will be performed within this study. Clinical Data Collection - Clinical data including age, sex, body mass index (BMI), comorbidities, length of hospital stay, and surgical details (e.g., surgery duration, anesthesia type, blood loss, complications) will be recorded using passively collected data from the patient's electronic medical record. Actiwatch Data Collection - patients will wear the actiwatch continuously for one week leading up to surgery. The watch will be distributed with a specific instruction sheet, and the study team will ensure that all questions have been answered. The watch will collect data including sleep duration, regularity, stability and timing of rhythm. Patients will return the watch on the day of surgery. Patients will be asked to wear the watch for an additional time period, beginning on the day of their one-month follow-up visit, for an additional one week. Patients will be able to access the results that the investigators derive from the actiwatch data. These results will include information about their sleep habits and circadian rhythm. The investigators will aim to get this information back to interested patients at their one-month follow-up visit after surgery. Assessments - The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) will be performed during the baseline visit at the preoperative clinic site, or over the phone. The MoCA will also be completed daily on postoperative days 1, 2, and 3. The long-form of the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) will be performed at the baseline visit or baseline phone-call and twice daily on postoperative days 1-3 (morning and afternoon). In the afternoons during postoperative days 1-3, a standard cognitive assessment will be performed in order to appropriately score the CAM. The postoperative assessments will be performed by a trained member of the study team. The Confusion Assessment Method (CAM)-long form will be applied twice daily from preoperative day 1 to postoperative day 3 to evaluate cognitive changes in each patient, and the peak delirium severity score will be used for comparative analyses. CAM scores will be recorded for each patient to determine if the criteria for a positive delirium screen has been met. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) will also be used to evaluate cognitive differences at baseline during the preoperative evaluation. To assess for the impact of nutrition on the collected blood samples, a nutrition assessment will be performed prior to the blood collection preoperatively and on postoperative days 1-3. Details regarding patient-centered clinical outcomes, including delirium onset, delirium severity, mortality, and hospital length of stay, will be collected using our electronic medical record. Blood collection (10 CC's of blood each): First blood draw: Preoperative day 0 (0-2 hours before surgery) Second blood draw: Postoperative day 1 Third blood draw: Postoperative day 2 Fourth blood draw: Postoperative day 3 When possible, blood collection will be performed while the patient is under general anesthesia and be extracted from an indwelling line to minimize patient discomfort. It will not be considered a protocol deviation if blood cannot be collected on days 2 or 3. Targeted protein screens and metabolomics analysis will then be used to analyze serum to determine the relative metabolic and inflammatory protein abundance and steady-state metabolite levels at each timepoint. Coded Samples: All blood samples will be assigned a unique sample ID, containing no identifiers that can be associated with the subject. The sample ID will be used for all data analysis and provided to the core facilities for analyses. The sample ID and associated patient MRN crosswalk will be stored in a secure and locked spreadsheet and only available to the MGB IRB-approved study team. Serum Isolation and Processing: Whole-blood samples will be collected and immediately processed for serum isolation in the laboratory. Briefly, blood will be transferred to a serum separator tube with clot factor, followed by centrifugation at 3000rpm for 30 minutes. The supernatant (serum) will then be collected, aliquoted, and stored at -80°C until further processing. Genetic Analysis from Blood Samples: To gather information about AD variant genes, including APOE-ε4, deidentified blood samples will be sent for genotyping in-house at the MGH Center for Computational and Integrative Biology (per their published Mass General Brigham Members Genotyping rates). Results regarding the genotypic data will be securely stored in encrypted and password-protected devices per MGB requirements. No personal identifiers will be shared. Participants will not be made aware of their AD gene risk status. Rigor and Reproducibility: The clinical study will follow institutional and federal guidelines for clinical research. All delirium assessments will be conducted by trained researchers. All source documents will be securely stored in encrypted and password protected devices in accordance with MGB requirements. These study procedures will allow us to complete data analysis towards our objective of investigating the impact of sleep/circadian disruption on POD risk by defining the preoperative and postoperative profile of amyloid, tau, and neurodegeneration (ATN) biomarkers and proteomic signatures (inflammatory and metabolic) in older patients undergoing major non-cardiac surgery.