The risk of post-surgical delirium in older patients may be reduced if they perform cognitive exercises in the days leading up to surgery, a study shows.

In the randomised trial of 251 patients undergoing non-cardiac and non-neurological surgeries, postoperative delirium rates were cut nearly in half, with 13% in the intervention group versus 23% in the control group, the authors write in JAMA Surgery.

Participants were scheduled for surgery and had no signs of cognitive decline (evaluated with the Mini-Mental State Examination) or depression (evaluated with the Geriatric Depression Scale).

The patients (median age 67, 65% female) were randomly assigned to get tablets preloaded with cognitive exercises from Lumosity (Lumos Labs) or to receive no intervention.