Early-stage chronic kidney disease has been suggested to be correlated with cognitive decline, but the association has rarely been explored in the oldest old.
This prospective study included 284 Chinese participants aged 80 years or older with serum creatinine levels <150 µmol/L. The median follow-up time was 3.3 years, and 247 (87.0%) participants provided valid data at their last visit. Kidney function was evaluated by measuring the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) at baseline, and cognitive function was evaluated using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) at both baseline and annual visits. A reliable decrease in the MMSE score over the follow-up period was observed based on a Reliable Change Index of 1.645 (equivalent to a 90% confidence interval [CI]), which was used to define cognitive decline. Poisson regression models were built to analyze the association between baseline kidney function and cognitive decline.
A total of 18 (7.3%) cases of incident cognitive decline were observed during the follow-up period. After adjusting for potential confounders, the relative risk of developing cognitive decline was 4.03 (95% CI 1.09-13.81) among participants with an eGFR of 30-59 mL/min/1.73 m(2) compared to participants with an eGFR of ≥60 mL/min/1.73 m(2).
Early-stage chronic kidney disease was correlated with cognitive decline in an oldest-old Chinese population.