Professional paper
ASSESSMENT OF COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS IN KIDNEY TRANSPLANT PATIENTS AT OSIJEK UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL CENTRE
MIRJANA KRAMARIĆ
; Department of Nephrology, Osijek University Hospital Centre, Osijek, Croatia
ROBERT LOVRIĆ
; Prof. Radivoje Radić Nursing Institute, Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
Abstract
Aim:The aim was to investigate cognitive status of kidney transplant patients. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 100 kidney transplant patients treated at Department of Nephrology, Osijek University Hospital Centre, 55 (55%) men and 45 (45%) women, median age 65.5 (IQR 58-73). The validated Montreal Cognitive Assessment scoring (MoCA test) was applied to evaluate cognitive status in kidney transplant patients. Data were additionally collected from the patient medical records. The SPSS v. 24.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) statistical software was used. Results: Cognitive impairment was prevalent in as many as 62 (62%) kidney transplant patients. The patients with cognitive impairment were much older (p=0.001) compared to patients without cognitive impairment. The patients without cognitive impairment had completed signifi cantly higher levels of education (p<0.001) and had a signifi cantly higher serum hemoglobin concentration (p=0.05) than patients with cognitive impairment. There was no significant difference in the incidence of cognitive impairment according to gender (p=0.71) and renal disease (p=0.08). The patients with cognitive impairment had significantly lower visuospatial abilities (p<0.001), significantly lower attention span (p<0.001) and poorer language abilities (p=0.001), significantly poorer abstract thinking (p=0.004) and delayed recall (p<0.001), and a significantly lower total MoCAtest score (p<0.001) compared to patients without cognitive impairment. Conclusion: Age is a significant factor in the prevalence of cognitive impairment in kidney transplant patients, i.e. the occurrence of cognitive impairment increases signifi cantly with increase in patient age. Early recognition and detection of specific symptoms that indicate the risk of cognitive problems should be emphasized as important issues in nursing practice because these symptoms can cause further complications. Accordingly, the signifi cance and seriousness of cognitive impairment should be kept in mind, along with the consequences it may cause.
Keywords
cognition; cognition disorder; MoCA test; kidney transplant patients
Hrčak ID:
256922
URI
Publication date:
28.4.2021.
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