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The following is a summary of “Correlation between intradialytic blood pressure variability and cognitive impairment in patients on maintenance hemodialysis,” published in the February 2025 issue of BMC Nephrology by Wan et al. 

The correlation between intradialytic blood pressure variability (BPV) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in patients with maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) is unclear, and this study examines their association. 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to examine the correlation between intradialytic BPV and CI in patients with MHD. 

They collected intradialytic Systolic blood pressure (SBP) within 3 months before cognitive assessment as baseline data and averaged it as final data. They converted SBP into 4 BPV indices: standard deviation (SD), coefficient of variation (CV), average real variability (ARV), and RANGE. They assessed cognitive functions using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scale. 

The results showed that 170 patients with 6,662 dialysis records and 26,580 SBP measurements were enrolled. The mean age was 57.99 years, and MCI prevalence was 78.24%. SBP ARV was higher in the MCI group than in the NMCI group (8.91 vs. 7.60, P = 0.042), while mean SBP and other BPV indices showed no statistical difference. A non-linear relationship existed between SBP ARV and MCI, with an inflection point at 7.52. 

Investigators found that high SBP ARV was closely associated with MCI, suggesting it may serve as an indicator in patients with MHD. 

Source: bmcnephrol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12882-024-03908-0