OBJECTIVETo compare the effects of propofol and inhalation anesthesia on the incidence of early postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) in elderly patients undergoing noncardiac surgeries.

METHODSPubMed, Cochrane Library, CBM, CNKI, Wanfang data and VIP Database (by October 2012) were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing propofol and inhalation anesthesia for their impact on the incidence of early POCD in elderly patients undergoing noncardiac surgeries. After data extraction and quality evaluation, Stata 12.0 software was used for statistical data analysis.

RESULTSThirteen RCTs, including 2 comparing propofol with xenon, 7 comparing propofol with sevoflurane, and 4 comparing propofol with isoflurane were obtained, involving a total of 753 patients. The odds ratio of early POCD incidence between patients with propofol anesthesia and those with xenon anesthesia, sevoflurane anesthesia, and isoflurane anesthesia were 1.62 (95% CI 0.81-3.23, P=0.533), 0.67 (95% CI 0.39-1.14, P=0.830), and 0.20 (95% CI 0.08-0.50, P=0.925), respectively. Overall, the odds ratio of early POCD incidence between propofol anesthesia and inhalation anesthesia was 0.68 (95% CI 0.47-0.98, P=0.189). Egger's test showed a publication bias of the RCTs retrieved (P=0.011).

CONCLUSIONCompared with inhalation anesthesia, propofol anesthesia is associated with a lower incidence of early POCD in elderly patients, but this conclusion needs to be further verified by more well-designed large-scale RCTs.