Cognitive Impairment and Its Associated Factors in Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis: A Cross Sectional Study

Hemodialysis is a treatment for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) that is an underlying factor of cognitive impairment in patients.
This study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of cognitive impairment and its associated factors in patients undergoing hemodialysis using Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA).
This cross-sectional study was carried out in 2016 in the dialysis unit of an academic hospital in the north of Iran. A total of two hundreds and twenty-four patients with chronic renal failure and ESRD presenting to for hemodialysis were included. All the patients were evaluated by the MoCA and the cut-off point was set at ≤25 for confirming cognitive impairment. The data obtained were analyzed in SPSS-18 using the Chi-square test, Mann-Whitney’s U-test, Fisher’s exact test, the independent t-test and the binomial logistic regression.
From the total of 224 patients examined, 93 (41.52%) had developed cognitive impairment. The variables of age, stroke, education and diabetes were entered into the logistic regression model to analyze the associated risk factors, but only age and a history of stroke showed a significant relationship with this impairment; that is, the possibility of cognitive impairment increases with increasing age and a history of stroke can increase its risk six-fold.
Cognitive impairment was a relatively frequent complication of hemodialysis in this study which was performed in the north of Iran. Aging and a history of stroke are risk factors of cognitive impairment in patients with chronic kidney failure undergoing hemodialysis treatment.