Expert Consensus on Perioperative Management of Elderly Septic Patients (2021)

As the increasing of the aging population, the number of elderly surgical patients has increased exponentially.In elderly patients, a number of risk factors, such as comorbidities, premedication status, malnutrition, weakness, and impaired function of the immune system (or immune senescence), which are associated with a higher susceptibility to sepsis.These factors not only increase the risk of sepsis, but also lead to more severe manifestations of infection and may be associated with higher mortality.Elderly patients with sepsis had a poor prognosis compared to non-elderly patients, but there was no significant difference in the treatment.In addition, the survivors of elderly septic patients also had poorer quality of life.Therefore, in order to optimize the perioperative management of elderly patients, clinical experts from relevant disciplines discussed this issue and formulated this consensus.