Body mass index, systemic inflammation and cognitive performance in adolescents: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Excessive body weight has been related to lower cognitive performance. One of the mechanisms through which excess body weight may affect cognition is inflammation. HYPOTHESIS: Our hypothesis is that both body mass index (BMI) and circulating levels of inflammatory biomarkers will be negatively related to cognitive performance. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Users of the public health centres of the Consorci Sanitari de Terrassa (Terrassa, Spain) between 2010 and 2017 aged 12-21 years. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and five adolescents (46 normoweight, 18 overweight, 41 obese). MEASUREMENTS: Levels of high sensitivity C-reactive protein, interleukin 6, tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα) and fibrinogen were determined from blood samples. Cognitive performance was evaluated and six cognitive composites were obtained: working memory, cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, decision-making, verbal memory, and fine motor speed. A single multivariate general lineal model was used to assess the influence of the four inflammatory biomarkers, as well as participants' BMI, sex, and age on the 6 cognitive indexes. RESULTS: An inverse relationship between BMI and inhibitory control (F = 5.688, p = .019; ß = -0.212, p = .031), verbal memory (F = 5.404, p = .022; ß = -0.255, p = .009) and fine motor speed (F = 9.038, p = .003; ß = -0.319, p = .001) was observed. Levels of TNFα and fibrinogen were inversely related to inhibitory control (F = 5.055, p = .027; ß = -0.226, p = .021) and verbal memory (F = 4.732, p = .032; ß = -0.274, p = .005), respectively. LIMITATIONS: The cross-sectional nature of the study, the use of cognitive tests designed for clinical purposes, and the use of BMI as a proxy for adiposity are limitations of our study that must be taken into account when interpreting results. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that some components of executive functions, together with verbal memory, are sensitive to specific obesity-related inflammatory agents at early ages.

Cognitive impairment following chemotherapy for breast cancer: The impact of practice effect on results.

Chemotherapy-Related Cognitive Impairment (CRCI) can be an adverse effect in women treated for breast cancer. Some longitudinal studies reported deficits in attention, memory, and executive function following treatment, but other studies did not find cognitive changes. It is known that practice effects (PE) on repeated assessments with cognitive tests contribute to the discrepancies in these results, but its influence on scores has not been systematically explored. The present study examines the impact of PE on retest scores in a group of women with breast cancer treated with chemotherapy and evaluated longitudinally. METHOD: 51 women with breast cancer treated with a combination of 5-fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide with or without taxanes were assessed after surgery but before chemotherapy (T1), post-chemotherapy (T2), and at one year after T2 (T3). Longitudinal changes on cognitive performance were analyzed twice: when retest scores were not corrected for PE and when correction for PE was applied to T2 and T3 scores. RESULTS: When PE was not corrected, progressive improvement over time in measures of memory and divided attention at T2 and T3 was observed. In contrast, when PE was corrected, worsening was found in measures of memory, fluency, executive function, and attention at T2 and in attention and executive function at T3. Results after correction for PE are in line with previous longitudinal studies that report cognitive impairment after treatment with chemotherapy for breast cancer. CONCLUSION: Accounting for PE is recommended to identify true change on cognition through treatment with chemotherapy for breast cancer.

NEU Screen Shows High Accuracy in Detecting Cognitive Impairment in Older Persons Living With HIV.

The NEUrocognitive (NEU) Screen is a practical tool proposed to screen for HIV-associated cognitive impairment in the clinical setting. This is a pencil-and-paper method that can be applied rapidly (≤10 minutes for administration) and has no copyright limitations. In this study, we aimed at investigating its diagnostic accuracy in an older population of persons living with HIV (PLWH), with cutoffs set at 30, 40, 50, and 60 years. Data were collected from a sample of 368 PLWH who underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological tests battery (gold standard). Results of statistical tests showed that accuracy of the NEU Screen increased with age of the participants. The highest degree of precision, with a sensitivity of 91% and specificity of 92%, was obtained for people ages 60 years or older (correct classification: 91%). These optimal results point to the great potential of the NEU Screen as a tool for detecting cognitive disorders in older PLWH.

The effect of depressive symptoms on cognition in patients with fibromyalgia.

BACKGROUND: Fibromyalgia (FM) patients frequently complain of cognitive problems, but it remains unclear whether these cognitive complaints can be attributed to a dysfunction of the central nervous system or if they can be explained by other factors associated with the disease, such as depression, anxiety and sleep dysfunction. METHODS: One hundred and ten patients with FM were compared with thirty-three patients diagnosed with a depressive disorder (DD) and fifty healthy controls (HC). Several measures of attention and executive functions were used to make these comparisons and the patients were also asked to complete questionnaires on depression, anxiety and sleep quality. Univariate analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) were performed to identify and control confounders and multiple linear models were used to examine the effects of fibromyalgia and depression on cognitive measures. RESULTS: FM and HC differed significantly with respect to depression, anxiety and sleep dysfunction, whereas FM and DD did not differ in terms of symptoms of depression and anxiety. However, FM was associated with a worse quality of sleep than DD. Comparisons of cognitive performance between groups showed that short-term and working memory and inattention measures were only associated with symptoms of depression, whereas selective attention was associated with both depression and fibromyalgia, and processing speed, cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control showed a significant interaction between depression and fibromyalgia. Moreover, cognitive flexibility and inhibition abilities were specifically associated with FM. CONCLUSION: FM patients show a cluster of cognitive impairment in the attentional and executive domains, although some of the symptoms observed could be explained by the severity of the symptoms of depression, while others seem to depend on the effects of fibromyalgia. Implications of the findings for the understanding and management of cognitive impairment of FM patients are discussed.

Role of taxanes in chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment: A prospective longitudinal study.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to elucidate the role of taxanes on cognition when they are administered as a part of the treatment with a fluorouracil, epirubicin and cyclophosphamide (FEC) regimen for breast cancer (BC). METHODS: Two groups of women (n = 51) with a novel diagnostic of BC that were treated with a combination of FEC alone (6 cycles of FEC) or with taxanes (4 cycles of FEC plus 8 cycles of taxanes) were compared at three moments: before chemotherapy, after its completion (short-term evaluation) and at a mean of 74.5 weeks from baseline as a long-term evaluation. RESULTS: Both groups showed worsening in tests of attention and executive functions on the short-term assessment, with the group treated with taxanes showing more number of affected cognitive measures at this time point, including verbal learning and speed measures. At the long-term evaluation, cognitive dysfunction was still found in attention and executive functions in both groups. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that chemotherapy for BC with a FEC regimen can have a negative effect on cognition. Acute deficits seem to be larger when taxanes are added, but treatment seems to affect cognition also at long term.

Cognitive complaints in women with fibromyalgia: Are they due to depression or to objective cognitive dysfunction?

INTRODUCTION: Cognitive complaints are common in fibromyalgia, but it is unclear whether they represent an objective cognitive dysfunction or whether they could be explained by depressive symptoms. Here, we aim to elucidate the frequency of subjective cognitive complaints in a sample of women with fibromyalgia, in addition to analyzing associations between these subjective complaints and objective measures linked to the attention and executive cognitive domains. Finally, we aim to investigate the ability of demographic, clinical, and psychological variables to explain the subjective complaints observed. METHOD: One hundred and five women aged 30-55 years diagnosed with fibromyalgia completed a neuropsychological assessment, which included measures of attention and executive functions. They also completed self-report inventories of subjective cognitive complaints, depression, anxiety, intensity of pain, sleep quality, everyday physical functioning, and quality of life. RESULTS: Eighty-four percent of the patients reported subjective cognitive complaints. Depression scores, everyday physical functioning, and working memory performance were most strongly associated with subjective cognitive complaints. These three variables were significant predictors for subjective cognitive complaints with a final model explaining 32% of the variance. CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive complaints are very frequent in patients with fibromyalgia, and these are related to functional and cognitive impairment as well as to depressive symptoms.

Neuropsychological Outcome One Year after Carotid Revascularization: A before-and-after Study.

PURPOSE: The aim of our study was to determine the clinical profile of patients considered cognitive 'responders' to surgery in order to establish clinical variables associated with a favorable cognitive performance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 70 patients were included in the study. A well-validated, comprehensive standardized neurocognitive battery of tests of about 2 hours was administered. Patients were examined twice, 1-week before surgery and 1-year postoperatively. The criterion to be included in the 'responder' group was the following: to obtain a positive difference between post-revascularization and pre-revascularization neuropsychological assessment ≥1 standard deviation in ≥2 tests. RESULTS: Twenty-seven patients (38.6%) were cognitive responders to treatment. In bivariate analysis between responders and non-responders, presence of atrophy (P=0.003), small vessels (P=0.577), symptoms (P=0.046), and age (P=0.030) were the factors statistically significant. When comparing cognitive performance before and after carotid revascularization, significant differences were observed in semantic fluency with a lower performance after 12 months (P=0.004, d=0.29), and in the Language index (Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status) (P=0.005, d=0.34). CONCLUSION: Patients without neurological symptoms, of a younger age and without atrophy and white matter small vessel lesions are better cognitive responders 1-year after carotid revascularization.

Aging in HIV-Infected Subjects: A New Scenario and a New View.

The prevalence of HIV-infected people aged 50 years or older is increasing rapidly; the proportion will increase from 28% to 73% in 2030. In addition, HIV-infected individuals may be more vulnerable to age-related condition. There is growing evidence that the prevalence of comorbidities and other age-related conditions (geriatric syndromes, functional or neurocognitive/mental problems, polypharmacy, and social difficulties) is higher in the HIV-infected population than in their uninfected counterparts. However, despite the potential impact of this situation on health care, little information exists about the optimal clinical management of older HIV-infected people. Here we examine the age-related conditions in older HIV-infected persons and address clinical management according to author expertise and published literature. Our aim is to advance the debate about the most appropriate management of this population, including less well-studied aspects, such as frequency of screening for psychological/mental and social and functional capabilities.

Executive function in fibromyalgia: Comparing subjective and objective measures.

BACKGROUND: There is evidence to suggest the existence of an executive dysfunction in people diagnosed with fibromyalgia, although there are certain inconsistencies between studies. Here, we aim to compare executive performance between patients with fibromyalgia and a control group by using subjective and objective cognitive tests, analyzing the influence of patient mood on the results obtained, and studying associations between the two measures. METHOD: 82 patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia and 42 healthy controls, matched by age and years of education, were assessed using the Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Function - Adult Version (BRIEF-A) as a subjective measure of executive functioning. A selection of objective cognitive tests were also used to measure a series of executive functions and to identify symptoms of depression and anxiety. RESULTS: Patients with fibromyalgia perceived greater difficulties than the control group on all of the BRIEF-A scales. However, after adjustments were made for depression and anxiety the only differences that remained were those associated with the working memory scale and the Metacognition and Global Executive Composite index. In the case of the objective cognitive tests, a significantly worse overall performance was evidenced for the fibromyalgia patients. However, this also disappeared when adjustments were made for depression and anxiety. After this adjustment, fibromyalgia patients only performed significantly worse for the interference effect in the Stroop Test. Although there were no significant associations between most of the objective cognitive tests and the BRIEF-A scales, depression and anxiety exhibited strong associations with almost all of the BRIEF-A scales and with several of the objective cognitive tests. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with fibromyalgia showed executive dysfunction in subjective and objective measures, although most of this impairment was associated with mood disturbances. Exceptions to this general rule were observed in the impairment of working memory evidenced on the BRIEF-A scale and the inhibition impairment exhibited by the interference effect from the Stroop Test. The two types of measurement provide different yet complementary information.

Classification models for neurocognitive impairment in HIV infection based on demographic and clinical variables.

OBJECTIVE: We used demographic and clinical data to design practical classification models for prediction of neurocognitive impairment (NCI) in people with HIV infection. METHODS: The study population comprised 331 HIV-infected patients with available demographic, clinical, and neurocognitive data collected using a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests. Classification and regression trees (CART) were developed to obtain detailed and reliable models to predict NCI. Following a practical clinical approach, NCI was considered the main variable for study outcomes, and analyses were performed separately in treatment-naïve and treatment-experienced patients. RESULTS: The study sample comprised 52 treatment-naïve and 279 experienced patients. In the first group, the variables identified as better predictors of NCI were CD4 cell count and age (correct classification [CC]: 79.6%, 3 final nodes). In treatment-experienced patients, the variables most closely related to NCI were years of education, nadir CD4 cell count, central nervous system penetration-effectiveness score, age, employment status, and confounding comorbidities (CC: 82.1%, 7 final nodes). In patients with an undetectable viral load and no comorbidities, we obtained a fairly accurate model in which the main variables were nadir CD4 cell count, current CD4 cell count, time on current treatment, and past highest viral load (CC: 88%, 6 final nodes). CONCLUSION: Practical classification models to predict NCI in HIV infection can be obtained using demographic and clinical variables. An approach based on CART analyses may facilitate screening for HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders and complement clinical information about risk and protective factors for NCI in HIV-infected patients.

A brief and feasible paper-based method to screen for neurocognitive impairment in HIV-infected patients: the NEU screen.

OBJECTIVE: Practical screening methods are necessary to detect neurocognitive impairment (NCI) in HIV-infected patients. We aimed to find a brief and feasible paper-based tool to facilitate the diagnosis of an HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder. METHODS: A total of 106 HIV-infected outpatients with variable clinical characteristics were recruited in a multicenter investigation. NCI was diagnosed using a standardized neuropsychological tests battery (7 areas, 21 measures, ∼2 hours). Multiple score combinations were compared to find a paper-based method that took ≤10 minutes to apply. The presence of NCI was considered the gold standard for comparisons, and the sensitivity and specificity were calculated. RESULTS: Subjects were mostly middle-aged (median, 44 years) men (87%) on antiretroviral treatment. NCI was detected in 51 individuals (48%) and was associated with lower nadir CD4 count (P < 0.001), receiving antiretroviral therapy (P = 0.004), fewer years of education (P = 0.009), and presence of comorbidities (P < 0.001). The score combination that showed the highest sensitivity (74.5%) and specificity (81.8%) detecting NCI included 3 measures of attention/working memory, executive functioning, and verbal fluency (part A of Trail Making Test, part B of Trail Making Test, and Controlled Oral Word Association Test scores). A broader paper-based selection of measures covering 7 areas indicated a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 96.3% (7 measures, ∼35 minutes). CONCLUSIONS: The combination of the 3 measures presented in this study seems to be a rapid and feasible screening mean for NCI in HIV-infected patients. This approach, combined with screening for potential comorbidities and daily functioning interference, could help in the initial stages of a HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder diagnosis and in settings with limited access to neuropsychological resources.

[Cognitive dysfunction in fibromyalgia]. / Disfunción cognitiva en la fibromialgia.

INTRODUCTION: People with a fibromyalgia diagnosis complain of having very poor cognitive functioning. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest to investigate which cognitive impairment is present in this disease. AIM: To review the published research on fibromyalgia and cognitive dysfunction. DEVELOPMENT: A literature search was performed with a time interval from 1995 to 2012. Search terms included the keywords 'fibromyalgia' and 'cognition', 'attention', 'memory', 'language', 'perception', 'executive functions' and 'dis-executive syndrome'. 64 records were selected after applying inclusion criteria. CONCLUSIONS: Studies that have examined cognitive function in people diagnosed with fibromyalgia have been few and mostly with small samples. Deficits have been identified mainly in working memory and complex attentional functions, where the distraction factor has an important significance. Impairment has also been identified in long-term memory and executive functions. There is consensus among the studies in which the degree of pain is directly related to the level of cognitive dysfunction, while no full consensus to explain the influence of depression and anxiety on cognitive functioning in these patients.

TITLE: Disfuncion cognitiva en la fibromialgia.Introduccion. Las personas diagnosticadas de fibromialgia refieren de manera muy frecuente quejas sobre su pobre funcionamiento cognitivo. En los ultimos anos ha aumentado el interes para investigar cuales son las alteraciones cognitivas presentes en esta enfermedad. Objetivo. Realizar una revision de las investigaciones publicadas sobre fibromialgia y funciones cognitivas. Desarrollo. Se realizo una busqueda bibliografica con un intervalo temporal desde 1995 hasta 2012. Los terminos de busqueda incluyeron las palabras clave 'fibromyalgia' y 'cognition', 'attention', 'memory', 'language', 'perception', 'executive functions' y 'disexecutive syndrome'. Se seleccionaron 64 registros tras aplicar criterios de inclusion. Conclusiones. Los estudios que han analizado las funciones cognitivas en las personas diagnosticadas de fibromialgia han sido escasos y mayoritariamente con muestras pequenas. Se han identificado deficits principalmente en la memoria de trabajo y en las capacidades atencionales mas complejas, donde el factor distraccion tiene una relevancia importante. Tambien se ha identificado deterioro en la memoria a largo plazo y en las funciones ejecutivas. Existe consenso entre los diversos estudios en que el grado de dolor tiene una relacion directa con el nivel de disfuncion cognitiva, mientras que no existe total consenso para explicar la influencia de la depresion y ansiedad sobre el funcionamiento cognitivo en estos pacientes.

Improvement of cognitive flexibility and cingulate blood flow correlates after atypical antipsychotic treatment in drug-naive patients with first-episode schizophrenia.

The aim of this study was to examine the changes in cognitive flexibility and associated cerebral blood flow in the anterior cingulate lobe of drug-naive patients with first-episode schizophrenia who were treated with atypical antipsychotics for 6 weeks. Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) images were obtained from 8 healthy subjects both at rest and while performing the flexibility subtest of the TAP (Test for Attentional Performance). SPECT images were obtained in parallel from 8 first-episode drug-naive schizophrenic patients while they were performing the same task both before and after 6 weeks of neuroleptic treatment. In the control group, an increase in the perfusion indices of the dorsal section of the anterior cingulate gyrus was observed in the activation condition. Task performance was altered and the level of perfusion of the brain region related to the task execution was significantly decreased in the patients at baseline. After treatment, there was a significant improvement in both task performance and the level of perfusion of the dorsal section of the anterior cingulate. We conclude that treatment with second-generation neuroleptics improves cognitive flexibility, and there was a relationship between such improvements and normalization of perfusion indices of the involved brain areas.