Anesthesiology
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Frailty and cognitive impairment are associated with postoperative delirium, but are rarely assessed preoperatively. The study was designed to test the hypothesis that preoperative screening for frailty or cognitive impairment identifies patients at risk for postoperative delirium (primary outcome). ⋯ Screening for frailty and cognitive impairment preoperatively using the FRAIL scale and the Animal Verbal Fluency test in older elective spine surgery patients identifies those at high risk for the development of postoperative delirium.