Cognitive Function in Patients With Mild Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: A Case-Control Pilot Study

Abstract

This case-control study examined cognitive function in patients with mild idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), in comparison with controls or moderate-to-severe IPF. Ten mild IPF, 10 moderate-to-severe IPF, and 16 controls were enrolled, and performance on seven different cognitive function tests was compared in each group. IPF showed decreased cognitive function compared to controls in verbal memory, cognitive flexibility and information processing speed. As the scores were lower even in mild IPF, this study suggests that cognitive function declines early in the disease process of IPF. Thus, occupational therapy for IPF should require an assessment of cognitive function and assistance appropriate to the client’s function.

Keywords:

• Chronic disease
• cognition
• idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
• pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis
• quality of life

Authors’ contributions

H.A contributed to the study conception, design and data analysis. Material preparation were performed by H.A and T.N. Data collection were performed by H.A and H.M. The first draft of the manuscript was written by H.A. The draft was supervised by T.N and H.M. All authors approved the final manuscript.

Declaration of interest

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.