Photo Credit: RGB Ventures

The following is a summary of “Early detection of cognitive impairment in end-stage renal disease patients undergoing hemodialysis: insights from Resting-State functional connectivity analysis,” published in the April 2025 issue of BMC Nephrology by Liu et al. 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to investigate functional connectivity (FC) in patients with neurologically asymptomatic end-stage renal disease (ESRD) undergoing hemodialysis (HD) with cognitive impairment (CI). 

They enrolled 36 patients with early-stage ESRD undergoing HD (ESHD) and 31 healthy control subjects for MRI scans. Abnormal FCs and networks were identified between the two groups, and correlation analysis and area under the curve (AUC) analysis were performed between abnormal FC regions and clinical variables. 

The results showed that the ESHD group exhibited abnormal FCs in the posterior default mode network (DMN), attention network, and external visual network (VN). Significant correlations were found between FC values of multiple brain regions and neurocognitive scores in the ESHD group. The FC value of the right median cingulate gyrus negatively correlated with serum calcium levels. AUC analysis revealed that altered FC values in the left angular gyrus and right supramarginal gyrus distinguished patients with or without CI. 

Investigators identified multiple abnormal FC regions in patients with asymptomatic ESHD, affecting visual-spatial processing, short-term memory, language, attention, and executive function. Altered FCs and their negative correlation with serum calcium levels suggested a link between metabolic disturbances and cognitive decline. 

Source: bmcnephrol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12882-025-04109-z