Memory performance in adequately dialyzed patients with end-stage renal disease: Is there an association with coronary artery bypass grafting?

Abstract

Although individuals with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) who receive maintenance dialysis often present with memory deficits, the nature of this impairment remains controversial. Thus, this study was aimed to better characterize memory functioning of dialyzed patients and to identify potential predictors of their memory performance. A total of 61 dialyzed patients with ESRD and 30 demographically matched normal controls (NC) were the participants for this study. Overall, individuals with ESRD obtained significantly lower memory scores than NCs. Moreover, the pattern of their performance was consistent with that of subcortical cerebrovascular disease. Additionally, our results indicate that age, years of education and premorbid intelligence, depression symptoms, and blood urea nitrogen, as well as a history of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), are significant predictors of memory performance of adequately dialyzed patients with ESRD. Importantly, when the presence of CABG was controlled, the memory performance of dialyzed patients did not significantly differ from that of NCs.

Keywords:

• Medical neuropsychology
• Cognition
• Memory
• Chronic kidney disease
• Coronary artery bypass grafting
• Neurotoxicity

While preparing this manuscript, the corresponding author was receiving a “START” scholarship from the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP). The corresponding author thanks Ola A. Selnes from the Johns Hopkins Hospital and School of Medicine for his helpful comments on the earlier version of this manuscript.