Perioperative Mental Health in older adults: new research on epidemiology and outcomes

Perioperative mental health presents different challenges from those posed in the outpatient psychiatry setting. For example, major depression is present in ∼5% of older adults, where it is a chronic illness that impairs quality of life and increases suicide risk; therefore it requires antidepressant medication and psychotherapy to attain and maintain symptomatic remission. In contrast, depression in the perioperative context occurs in 20-40% of older adults, where it is highly fluctuating over time and predicts poor operative outcomes, yet it may not be responsive to standard antidepressant medications or psychotherapy due to its fluctuating course and possibly different etiology.
Source: The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry - Category: Geriatrics Authors: Tags: Editorial Source Type: research