Obstructive sleep apnea and perioperative delirium among thoracic surgery intensive care unit patients: perspective on the STOP-BANG questionnaire and postoperative outcomes

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disease (DSM-5), delirium is an acute fluctuating disturbance in attention and awareness. Due to physiologic perturbations, delirium results in cerebral dysfunction and cognitive impairment (1). Among hospitalized patients delirium is associated with increased morbidity, length of stay (LOS), costs and mortality (2). Moreover, there is evidence that patients who develop delirium experience an accelerated degree of long-term cognitive decline compared to those that do not experience delirium while hospitalized (3). In their paper, “Preoperative STOP-BANG Scores and Postoperative Delirium and Coma in Thoracic Surgery Patients,” Wang and colleagues sought to assess the relationships between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), delirium and postoperative outcomes among thoracic surgery intensive care unit (ICU) patients.