A preliminary investigation of the relationship between EEG alpha power during anaesthesia and frailty in older adults.

Results: We found no correlation between absolute alpha power and age, which may be due to the relatively narrow age distribution of the study population. Although there was not a significant correlation between absolute alpha power and the MoCA or the TUG, once age and anesthetic agent were accounted for, our results suggest that both lower cognitive performance (MoCA) score and decreased physical ability (TUG) were associated with decreased alpha power. Overall, the participants in this study were relatively healthy with few frail subjects as evidenced by a relatively narrow range of MoCA and TUG results. Despite this limitation, our results suggest that patients who are less healthy are more likely to have lower average absolute alpha power during anesthesia. While there is no clear data on the relationship between EEG markers of “depth” of anesthesia and outcome, more frail patients are at increased risk of post-operative complications including delirium. Prior awareness of poor physical or cognitive health may allow the anesthesiologist to take steps to reduce the risk of post-operative cognitive complications. Recognition of lower alpha power during an operation maybe a useful additional marker of the frail patient.