Korean J Psychosom Med.  2016 Jun;24(1):94-101. 10.0000/kjpm.2016.24.1.94.

Association of Hemoglobin Levels and Cognitive Function in Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment

• Park JK
• Lee KJ
• Kim H

• KMID: 2321481
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.0000/kjpm.2016.24.1.94

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
Anemia is a common problem in the management of elderly patients. Recent studies reported that anemia was associated with cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. This study was aimed to analyze the differences of hemoglobin levels in Korean patients with Alzheimer's disease(AD) dementia, mild cognitive impairment(MCI), and healthy controls. Furthermore, the study also examined if any association between hemoglobin levels and cognitive functions existed.
METHODS
A total of 116 Korean elderly adults were participated in this study(mean age 74.67 years ; 60.3% female). The Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination(MMSE-K), Clinical Dementia Rating(CDR) and Global Deterioration Scale(GDS) were applied to all subjects. Hematological and related blood chemistry values were investigated.
RESULTS
We found that patients with AD dementia had significantly lower hemoglobin and hematocrit levels than MCI subjects and healthy control group. The hemoglobin levels showed a positive correlation with MMSE-K and negative correlation with CDR, GDS.
CONCLUSIONS
Among Korean elderly, low hemoglobin level is associated with a cognitive impairment. This study indicates that AD is associated with anemia, and low hemoglobin levels may contribute to potentially useful clinical markers of AD. The risk factor for dementia needs to be confirmed by prospective longitudinal studies in a larger group of patients.

Keyword

Hemoglobin levels; Anemia; Alzheimer's disease; Mild cognitive impairment

MeSH Terms

Adult
Aged
Alzheimer Disease*
Anemia
Biomarkers
Chemistry
Cognition Disorders
Cognition*
Dementia
Hematocrit
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Mild Cognitive Impairment*
Prospective Studies
Risk Factors
Biomarkers