THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FRAILTY AND COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT IN YOUNG ADULT HEMODIALYSIS PATIENTS

Objective: Frailty is a definition used in relation to geriatric populations, indicating physical inactivity and susceptibility to disease. Studies investigating frailty in hemodialysis (HD) patients mostly include the elderly. Cognitive impairment is overlooked in HD patients. This study aims to investigate associations between frailty and cognitive impairment in young-adult HD patients. Methods: The study included 102 HD patients aged 18-65 years old. Frailty was evaluated using the clinical frailty index (CFI) and cognition was evaluated using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). A CFI value between 5 and 7 was defined as frail, and 4-7 was defined as vulnerable-or-frail. An MoCA value <24/30 was determined as cognitive impairment. Results: Mean patient age was 48.3 +/- 12.4 years. Vulnerable- or-frail patients accounted for 26.7%, frailty, 12.7%. Frequency of cognitive impairment was 69.6%. The likelihood of Frailty and being vulnerable-or-frail were increased in patients with cognitive impairment compared with those without cognitive impairment (22.4%; 0.0% p= 0,011 and 57.7%; 3,3% p<0,001). CFI and MoCA were negatively correlated (-r= 0,607, p<0.001), which was still significant after adjusting for age, diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease (p=0.012). Conclusion: This study showed that frailty may be associated with cognitive impairment in young-adult HD patients. Determining frail HD patients may necessitate dealing with inactivity, comorbidities and also cognitive impairment.