Objective: We undertook the present study to investigate the cognitive status of patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) and its relationship to pulmonary function and cardiovascular efficiency.
Method: Fifty-one patients with a diagnosis of ILD [mean duration = 3.13 years (SD = 3.01)] received a respiratory examination, including spirometry and the six-minute walk test, and completed a neuropsychological assessment including several cognitive domains. Eighty-eight healthy individuals matched on age, education, and gender, completed the neuropsychological test battery.
Results: Patients performed more poorly than their healthy peers on cognitive tasks related to verbal and visual memory, visual perception, and working memory, but not attention, processing speed and executive functioning. Stepwise linear regression analyses showed that exercise-related measures (heart rate, oxygen saturation and distance walked) predicted performance on neuropsychological tests of psychomotor speed, verbal memory and word production. Additionally, an index of pulmonary function, specifically, lung diffusion capacity, predicted performance on selective and sustained attention and word generation.
Conclusion: The present preliminary findings may have implications for the quality of life and treatment compliance of patients with ILD and warrant further study with a larger sample of patients.
Keywords: Cognitive function; exercise; heart rate; hemoglobin oxygen saturation; spirometry.