FEATURES OF COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS IN HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS WITH THE PRESENCE/ABSENCE OF CHRONIC HEART FAILURE

Abstract

Objective: to evaluate cognitive functions in hypertensive patients with the presence/absence of chronic heart failure (CHF). Design and method: 100 male and female patients with I-III degree of arterial hypertension (AH) (ESH / ESC, 2018), who are on outpatient treatment at Republican Specialized Scientific and Practical Medical Center of Cardiology, were examined. The stage of CHF was diagnosed according to classification (ESH / ESC, 2020), the exclusion criteria was CHF stage IIB-III. The mean age of patients was 55.8±12.2 years, AH duration was 9.4±6.7 years. All patients initially measured office systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). Cognitive functions were evaluated using neuro-psychological tests: the Mini-Cog test, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). The hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) was used to assess levels of anxiety and depression. The results are presented as M ± SD. Results: All patients were divided into two groups: 1 - patients with AH without CHF (n = 78) and 2 - patients with AH with CHF stage I-IIA (n = 22). The analysis of cognitive functions in AH patients revealed good indicators of cognitive functions in AH patients without CHF in comparison with AH patients with stage I-IIA CHF. In particular, the overall score on the Mini-Cog test: in 1st group it was 4.05±0.92 points, in 2nd group - 3.45±1.4 points (p<0.05), the drawing function was much better: 1.72±0.55 points versus 1.4±0.85 points (p<0.05). The total score on the MOCA scale was slightly higher in group 1 than in group 2: 24.59±2.65 versus 23.31±3.83 points, p = 0.075. At the same time, self-assessment of attention was better in 1st group than in 2nd group: 8.76±1.51 versus 7.84±2.46 points, p<0.05. Visual-constructive performance skills were also better in group 1 than in group 2: 4.13±1.05 versus 3.5±1.47 points, p<0.05. Coping with work in the 1st group of patients was somewhat better than in the 2nd group: 9.09±1.37 versus 8.31±2.39 points, p = 0.072. Conclusions: Thus, in hypertensive patients with CHF stage I-IIA is noted the severity of cognitive impairment, in contrast to patients without CHF.