1
|
Berry K, Ruck JM, Barry F, Shui AM, Cortella A, Kent D, Seetharaman S, Wong R, VandeVrede L, Lai JC. Prevalence of cognitive impairment in liver transplant recipients. Clin Transplant 2024; 38:e15229. [PMID: 38113284 PMCID: PMC10842727 DOI: 10.1111/ctr.15229] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2023] [Revised: 11/06/2023] [Accepted: 12/10/2023] [Indexed: 12/21/2023]
Abstract
Liver transplant (LT) recipients have a high burden of cognitive impairment risk factors identified in other populations, yet little work has explored cognition in the United States LT population. We characterized prevalence of cognitive impairment (CI) in LT recipients pre-LT and ≥3 months post-LT. Adult LT recipients with cirrhosis but without active pre-LT hepatic encephalopathy (HE) were screened for CI using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) for CI (MoCA <24) both pre-LT and ≥3 months post-LT. The association between cognitive performance and recipient characteristics was assessed using logistic regression. Of 107 LT recipients, 36% had pre-LT CI and 27% had post-LT CI [median (Q1-Q3) MoCA 26 (23-28)]. Each 1-point increase in pre-LT MoCA was associated with 26% lower odds of post-LT cognitive impairment (aOR .74, 95% CI .63-.87, p < .001), after adjusting for recipient age, history of HE, and time since LT. In this study of cirrhosis recipients without active pre-LT HE, cognitive impairment was prevalent before LT and remained prevalent ≥3 months after LT (27%), long after effects of portal hypertension on cognition would be expected to have resolved. Our data expose an urgent need for more comprehensive neurologic examination of LT recipients to better identify, characterize, and address predictors of post-LT cognitive impairment.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kacey Berry
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Jessica M Ruck
- Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Fawzy Barry
- Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Amy M Shui
- Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Aly Cortella
- Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Dorothea Kent
- Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Srilakshmi Seetharaman
- Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Randi Wong
- Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Lawren VandeVrede
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Jennifer C Lai
- Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| |
Collapse
|