Features of neuropsychological characteristics of patients with arterial hypertension

Abstract

Introduction. The significant pathogenetic effect of arterial hypertension on the development of cognitive and psycho-emotional disorders, on the one hand, and the lack of algorithms for identifying and managing patients with comorbid neurocognitive disorders in therapeutic practice, on the other hand, determines the relevance of studying this problem.Aim. To study neuropsychological characteristics of patients with arterial hypertension in therapeutic practice. Materials and methods. A total of 508 patients with arterial hypertension were enrolled in the study. All study participants underwent the clinical examination and neuropsychological tests: Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale (MoCA test), Schulte tables, Categorical Verbal Fluency Test, Tracking Test, MFI-20 asthenia self-assessment questionnaire, Reeder's Test, Maastricht Questionnaire, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Results. The analysis of neuropsychological testing results of patients with hypertension showed that almost all the techniques identified deviations from the reference ranges in most of the study subjects. 85% of patients had decreased total score of cognitive functions assessed in terms of MoCA test scores, 83% of patients showed increased time in performing tracking test part A and 74% patients showed increased time in performing part B, and there was also a large difference between the time spent on performing parts B and A of the test; 49% of patients demonstrated decreased speed in performing the Schulte test. Th psycho-emotional state test results showed a high level of psycho-emotional stress in 80.5%, vital exhaustion in 78% and fatigue in 96% of patients. Conclusions. In this study, the neuropsychological testing results of patients with hypertension showed decreased total scores of cognitive functions and individual parameters of the cognitive spectrum, such as attention focusing, information processing speed, memory, speech function and executive functions combined with a high level of psycho-emotional stress, fatigue and anxiety.