AUTHOR=Kang Ning , Deng Ying , Yang Ning , Li Zhengqian , Kuang Zhongshen , Yuan Yi , Guo Xiangyang TITLE=Association between perioperative rate pressure product and postoperative delirium in geriatric patients with hip fracture JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2025 YEAR=2025 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2025.1651278 DOI=10.3389/fmed.2025.1651278 ISSN=2296-858X ABSTRACT=IntroductionPostoperative delirium (POD) is a serious complication of elderly hip fracture patients, leading to deleterious outcomes and substantial healthcare burdens. Early predictors remain a critical imperative. Rate pressure product (RPP), a stress indicator, has not been studied in relation to POD.ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the relationship between RPP at admission and incidence of POD in elderly patients undergoing hip fracture surgery and to explore whether the effect of RPP on POD is mediated by inflammatory response.MethodsThis study was conducted on patients aged ≥65 years who underwent hip fracture surgery under spinal anesthesia. POD was diagnosed using the 3-Minute Diagnostic Interview for CAM-defined Delirium (3D-CAM). A comprehensive dataset including demographics, clinical parameters, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores, and RPP. Preoperative plasma levels of IL-1βand IL-6 were quantified. To mitigate confounding biases, a propensity score matching (PSM) was performed. Logistic regression analyses were used to build a model predicting probability of POD. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis assessed the predictive utility of RPP. Mediation analysis was employed to further explore the relationship between RPP and POD.ResultsFrom an initial pool of 468 elderly patients undergone hip fractures, the rigorous screening and matching process culminated in a final analytical cohort of 150 patients. Post-PSM, patients in POD group exhibited higher admission RPP (p < 0.001), and elevated preoperative plasma IL-6 levels (p < 0.001) compared with patients in non-POD group. The binary logistic regression pinpointed higher admission RPP (OR: 1.325, 95% CI: 1.098–1.599, p = 0.003) and elevated preoperative plasma IL-6 (p < 0.001) as potent and independent risk factors of POD. Admission RPP demonstrated a commendable ability to predict POD, yielding an AUC of 0.727 (95% CI, 0.639–0.815, p < 0.001). Moreover, the results of mediation analysis show that the effect of RPP at admission on POD may be partially mediated by preoperative plasma IL-6.ConclusionElevated RPP at admission is a risk factor of POD in elderly patients undergoing hip fracture surgery and the effect of RPP at admission on POD may be partially mediated by preoperative plasma IL-6.