Objective: To determine whether unique latent subtypes of multimorbidity exist in elderly patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery and to clarify the effect of different subtype characteristics on the risk of postoperative delirium (POD). Methods: A total of 700 elderly patients scheduled for non-cardiac surgery were selected, 432 males and 268 females, aged ≥ 65 years, BMI 18.5-38.0 kg/m2, ASA physical status Ⅰ-Ⅳ. Latent class analysis (LCA), based on disease composition diagnosed according to the international classification of diseases (tenth revision), and the Akaike information criterion minimization principle was used to identify multimorbidity subtypes. Mediation analysis was employed to explore the effects of multimorbidity subtypes and Edmonton frail scale (EFS) scores on POD. Results: A total of 124 patients (17.7%) developed POD. Three distinct multimorbidity subtypes were identified and named based on the disease with the highest prevalence within each subtype: the cardiovascular disease subtype, the endocrine-metabolic disease subtype, and the adverse health habits subtype. Compared with the endocrine-metabolic disease subtype, the cardiovascular disease and adverse health habits subtypes showed significantly lower preoperative EFS scores and POD incidence, and significantly higher preoperative mini-mental state examination (MMSE) scores (P < 0.05). The endocrine-metabolic disease subtype, advanced age, high preoperative EFS score, and low preoperative MMSE score were identified as independent risk factors of POD. The endocrine-metabolic disease subtype exerted an indirect effect on POD through frailty, with an effect value of 0.049 (95% CI 0.033 to 0.069). The indirect effect remained significant at 0.016 (95% CI 0.004 to 0.029) after adjusting for age and preoperative MMSE score. The indirect effect of the endocrine-metabolic disease subtype on preoperative MMSE score through frailty was -1.854 (95% CI -2.447 to -1.368). The indirect effect was -1.323 (95% CI -1.828 to -0.891) after adjusting for age. Conclusion: The endocrine-metabolic disease subtype significantly increases the incidence of POD in elderly patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery. Within this subtype, frailty significantly contributes to the increased risk of POD through its mediating effect. |