Association between Atrial Fibrillation and Cognitive Function in Elderly Patients with Arterial Hypertension and Atrial Fibrillation

Kantemir Dzamikhov

Russian Medical Academy, Russian Medical Academy

Biography :

Kantemir Dzamikhov – researcher, physician at the Russian Medical Academy of Continuous Professional Ed­ucation (Department of therapy and multimorbid pathology named after academician M.S. Vovsi). Has publi­cations in Russian and International journals in the scientific direction: cognitive impairment in elderly patients. Member of the Russian Scientific Society of Internal Medicine (RSMSIM), European Federation of Internal Med­icine Academy (EFIM Academy).

Abstract :

Aim: To assess cognitive functions in elderly patients with arterial hypertension (AH) depend­ing on the presence/absence of atrial fibrillation (AF).

Methods: Two groups were formed according to medical records data: 1) patients with AH and AF (n=165, median age 82 [76; 85] years), 2) patients with AH without AF (n=165, median age 75 [69; 82] years). Cognitive assessment included MMSE, MoCA, Boston naming test, ADAS-Cog.

Findings: MMSE и MoCA did not show any significant differences between the groups. Group 1 had significantly lower BNT score (28 [26;31,5]), compared to group 2 (30 [27;33]; p=0.002). Similarly, group 1 had significantly higher ADAS-Cog score, compared to group 2 - 14 [11;18] and 13 [9;17] points, respectively(p=0.024).

Results: Multimorbidity in patients with AH and AF may contribute to the development of more prominent cognitive impairment, deterioration of executive function, semantic memory, as well as attention, visual-spatial ability, and working memory