COPD patients have a higher risk of developing cognitive impairment: BMJ

A new study published in the BMJ Open Respiratory Research journal showed that patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are more likely to experience cognitive impairment and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (na-MCI) when compared to people without.

Many patients with COPD suffer from cognitive impairment, which is the primary cause of quality of life to varied degrees. However, due to variations in study designs, participant age ranges, inclusion criteria, and evaluation procedures, there were still significant differences in these prevalence percentages. Although earlier research showed a link between COPD and cognitive decline, the findings were still debatable. Thereby, Xia Chen and team present this systematic study to determine if COPD is an indicator for cognitive impairment in and of itself.

This research was a meta-analysis and systematic review. From the beginning until December 1, 2022, the Cochrane Library, PubMed, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Embase, China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database, Chinese Biomedical Database, Wanfang Database, and Weipu Database were searched for data. Studies that documented cognitive impairment in COPD were required to meet the inclusion criteria. Cohort designs that have been published in either Chinese or English were merely included by the researchers.