For elderly patients undergoing elective surgical procedures, preoperative evaluation of cognition is often overlooked. Patients may experience postoperative delirium (POD) and postoperative cognitive decline (POCD), especially those with certain risk factors, including advanced age. Preoperative cognitive impairment is a leading risk factor for both POD and POCD, and studies have noted that identifying these deficiencies is critical during the preoperative period so that appropriate preventive strategies can be implemented. Comprehensive geriatric assessment is a useful approach which evaluates a patient's medical, psycho-social, and functional domains objectively. Various screening tools are available for preoperatively identifying patients with cognitive impairment. The Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols have been discussed in the context of prehabilitation as an effort to optimize a patient's physical status prior to surgery and decrease the risk of POD and POCD. Evidence-based protocols are warranted to standardize care in efforts to effectively meet the needs of these patients.Hyperglycemia in surgical patients is common and associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Optimal perioperative care includes pre-surgery evaluation of glucose control, adequate preoperative management of glucose-lowering therapies, and repeated blood glucose monitoring on the day of surgery. There is consensus regarding the maintenance of intraoperative glucose levels below 10.0 mM through the use of subcutaneous or intravenous insulin, and over the avoidance of aggressive strategies in order to minimize the risk of hypoglycemia. As staffing levels are stretched and prevalence and complexity of cases increase, novel diabetes technologies such as continuous glucose monitoring, insulin pumps and closed-loop glucose control systems can potentially address unmet needs in the provision of perioperative diabetes care. This potential calls for well-designed clinical trials covering various aspects of perioperative glucose management in order to establish evidence-based and standardized practices. This long-term goal relies heavily on communication and collaboration in multidisciplinary teams that include anesthesiologists, surgeons, and endocrinologists.Important elements of the preoperative assessment that should be addressed for the older adult population include frailty, comorbidities, nutritional status, cognition, and medications. Frailty has emerged as a plausible predictor of adverse outcomes after surgery. It is present in older patients and is characterized by multisystem physiologic decline, increased vulnerability to stressors, and adverse clinical outcomes. Preoperative preparation may include a prehabilitation program, which aims to address nutritional insufficiencies, modify chronic polypharmacy, and enhance physical and respiratory conditions prior to hospital admission. Special considerations are taken for particularly high-risk patients, where the approach to prehabilitation can address specific, individual risk factors. Identifying patients who are nutritionally deficient allows practitioners to intervene preoperatively to optimize their nutritional status, and different strategies are available, such as immunonutrition. Previous studies have shown an association between increased frailty and the risk of postoperative complications, morbidity, hospital length of stay, and 30-day and long-term mortality following general surgical procedures. Evidence from numerous studies suggests a potential benefit of including a standard assessment of frailty as part of the preoperative workup of older adult patients. Studies addressing validated frailty assessments and the quantification of their predictive capabilities in various surgeries are warranted.Anemia is the most common hematological disease, and is defined by the World Health Organization as a condition in which the number of red blood cells and consequently oxygen-carrying capacity is insufficient to meet the physiological needs of the body. Anemia can occur throughout the perioperative period and has important clinical consequences. Preoperative anemia is usually regarded as no more than a surrogate marker of a patient's physical status, and it is not always adequately addressed before surgery. Postoperative anemia is a common event and occurs in 80-90% of patients who have undergone major surgery. This manuscript discusses the detection and management of preoperative anemia, the three pillars of patient blood management, perioperative anemia management, and risk stratification for anemia in the surgical setting.Perioperative acute kidney injury (AKI) is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Patient comorbidities, the type of surgery, timing of surgery, and exposure to nephrotoxins are important contributors for developing acute kidney injury. Urgent or emergent surgery, cardiac, and organ transplantation procedures are associated with a higher risk of acute kidney injury. Nephrotoxic drugs, contrast dye, and diuretics can worsen preexisting kidney dysfunction or act as an additive and/or synergistic insult to perioperative injury. A history of preoperative chronic kidney disease is the main risk factor for developing AKI, conferring as much as a 10-fold risk. However, beyond the preoperative renal function, the development of AKI is a complex phenomenon that involves a combination of patient-related and surgery-related factors.Postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs), estimated between 2.0% and 5.6% in the general surgical population and 20-70% for upper abdominal and thoracic surgeries, are a significant factor leading to poor patient outcomes. Efforts to decrease the incidence of PPCs such as bronchospasm, atelectasis, exacerbations of underlying chronic lung conditions, infections (bronchitis and pneumonia), prolonged mechanical ventilation, and respiratory failure, begins with a detailed preoperative risk evaluation. https://www.selleckchem.com/JAK.html There are several available preoperative tests to estimate the risk of PPCs. However, the value of some of these studies to estimate PPCs remains controversial and is still debated. In this review, the preoperative risk assessment of PPCs is examined along with preoperative pulmonary tests to estimate risk, intraoperative, and procedure-associated risk factors for PPCs, and perioperative strategies to decrease PPCs. The importance of minimizing these events is reflected in the fact that nearly 25% of postoperative deaths occurring in the first week after surgery are associated with PPCs.