Long-term consequences of delirium in patients following aortic valve replacement

Leslie SP Eide has been awarded a two-year post doctor fellowship to investigate long-term consequences of delirium in the project «Delirium in octogenarians undergoing cardiac surgery or intervention – CARDELIR».

Published 8/31/2022

Leslie SP Eide from the research group PROCARD starts a two-year fellowship that will focus on data from the project CARDELIR.

Portrait Leslie SP Eide. Photo — Leslie SP Eide from the research group PROCARD.

It is estimated that within few years Norway will almost double its population of individuals 80-year-old and older. Currently, older patients are more often than before being offered advanced heart treatment such as traditional heart valve surgery (SAVR) and transfemoral aortic valve implantation (TAVI). These are treatment methods intended for severe narrowing of the heart's aortic valves (aortic stenosis), a condition that can lead to serious consequences if left untreated.

The CARDELIR study investigates an important but largely unknown research area: cardiac patients in the age group 80+ and delirium. CARDELIR has until now focused on the incidence, development and consequences of delirium in individuals 80+ in need of SAVR or TAVI. Among other things, the study has revealed that delirium is a common and unfortunate complication after invasive heart treatment for aortic stenosis, that the patients who were treated with SAVR developed delirium more often and that delirium after SAVR was more unpredictable in the postoperative course than after TAVI.

During the next two years, Eide, together with other members of the PROCARD group and international researchers, will look more closely at several clinical variables and at patient-reported outcomes before and after treatment with SAVR and TAVI. There is little knowledge about the long-term consequences (10 years) of delirium in general and in this field. Increased knowledge in this field will benefit future patients.

Leslie SP Eide has bachelor's degrees in gerontology and nursing, as well as a master's degree in gerontology from USA. She defended her PhD degree in 2016 with the dissertation “Delirium after Aortic Valve Therapy - A Prospective Cohort Study of Octogenarian Patients following Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement and Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation” and has been working as an associate professor at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences.

The postdoctoral position started on august 1st and is financed by the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences.