ABSTRACT
UNLABELLED: The emergence or worsening of cognitive impairment is a consequence of the aging process. Geriatric depression occurs due to cognitive impairment associated with aging, and as it develops, it also affects the cognitive function. AIM: To analyze retrospectively over a period of 6 months the clinical parameters and biological differences of the depression and cognitive impairment in dialyzed and non-dialyzed elderly patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: There were 63 patients over 65 years included in the study (29 patients admitted to the Geriatric Department of the "C. I. Parhon" Hospital, Iasi, and 34 patients that were in the renal dialysis program into the Transplant Centre Iasi) that were evaluated in terms of cognitive status and level of depression through the following tests: MMSE (the cognitive impairment severity assessment), the Geriatric Depression Score, the modified Hachinski Ischemic Score (for vascular dementia). The resulting data were interpreted statistically by SPSS 12.0 software and the results were evaluated by t- Student test (p <0.05). RESULTS: The average age was 73.2 + / -6.1 for non-dialyzed patients group and 69.8 +/- 4.6 for dialyzed group. Body mass index (BMI), hemoglobin, glucose and lipids were similar for both categories of patients. In the dialyzed group, depression is correlated with an elevated blood triglycerides, and the vascular dementia is correlated with glucose levels (p=0.04). Cognitive impairment is more accentuated in the dialyzed group compared to the non dialyzed one. CONCLUSIONS: Elderly dialyzed people are likely to develop more frequently and more severely vascular dementia than non-dialyzed old people, probably in the context of the factors that are related with dialysis itself.
