1st Department of Neurology, Medical School, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Greek Association of Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Appl Neuropsychol Adult. 2024 Mar-Apr;31(2):181-190. doi: 10.1080/23279095.2022.2110871. Epub 2022 Aug 18.
Concerns around the impact of anesthesia on cognitive decline and dementia, including Alzheimer's Disease (AD), have been increasing and recently attracting considerable attention in the research community. One unanswered question is whether anesthesia is a risk factor of dementia, specifically AD type dementia. A large body of evidence, coming from and models, suggests that exposure to anesthetic agents may increase the risk of AD through mechanisms of action similar to AD's neuropathology. In terms of clinical studies, our knowledge of the relationship between anesthesia and dementia is based on limited data, with most studies suggesting that there is no association. The aim of this paper was therefore to outline recent clinical studies exploring this controversial relationship and discuss future directions in terms of study design and potential areas of study. As the aging population and the prevalence of dementia and AD increases, we need a better understanding of anesthesia as a risk factor for neurodegeneration through well-designed studies. Despite the controversy, there seems to be little evidence to support that anesthesia itself or other surgical and patient factors can cause or accelerate AD.
人们对麻醉对认知能力下降和痴呆（包括阿尔茨海默病）的影响的担忧日益增加，最近引起了研究界的极大关注。一个悬而未决的问题是，麻醉是否是痴呆，特别是阿尔茨海默病型痴呆的一个风险因素。大量证据表明，接触麻醉剂可能会通过与阿尔茨海默病的神经病理学相似的作用机制增加患阿尔茨海默病的风险。就临床研究而言，我们对麻醉与痴呆之间关系的认识基于有限的数据，大多数研究表明两者之间没有关联。因此，本文旨在概述最近探索这一争议性关系的临床研究，并讨论在研究设计和潜在研究领域方面的未来方向。随着人口老龄化以及痴呆和阿尔茨海默病的患病率增加，我们需要通过精心设计的研究更好地了解麻醉作为神经退行性变的风险因素。尽管存在争议，但似乎几乎没有证据表明麻醉本身或其他手术和患者因素会导致或加速阿尔茨海默病的发生。
