Besides the widely known predisposing factors of age and diabetes mellitus, the authors of this interesting article present intraoperative volume overload and sodium concentration as factors leading to the development of postoperative delirium [1]. What we would like to add is that as delirium is a neurocognitive and neuropsychiatric disorder, the role of genetic contributors, eg. in the form of genetic polymorphisms related to the genesis of dementia/neurocogntive malfunction in its various forms, should also be taken into account for a more thorough investigation of the subject. Older studies [2–4] have not confirmed the putative relationship between genetics and delirium after heart surgery. However, as new knowledge emerges, novel research items, such as the variants of gene TREM2 [5] should also get under the scope of investigation, as they might elucidate the pathogenesis of postoperative delirium.
Conflict of interest: none declared
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