Cognitive impairment: classification and open issues

Future directions in ventilator-induced lung injury associated cognitive impairment: a new sight

Mechanical ventilation is a widely used short-term life support technique, but an accompanying adverse consequence can be pulmonary damage which is called ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI). Mechanical ventilation can potentially affect the central nervous system and lead to long-term cognitive impairment. In recent years, many studies revealed that VILI, as a common lung injury, may be involved in the central pathogenesis of cognitive impairment by inducing hypoxia, inflammation, and changes in neural pathways. In addition, VILI has received attention in affecting the treatment of cognitive impairment and provides new insights into individualized therapy. The combination of lung protective ventilation and drug therapy can overcome the inevitable problems of poor prognosis from a new perspective. In this review, we summarized VILI and non-VILI factors as risk factors for cognitive impairment and concluded the latest mechanisms. Moreover, we retrospectively explored the role of improving VILI in cognitive impairment treatment. This work contributes to a better understanding of the pathogenesis of VILI-induced cognitive impairment and may provide future direction for the treatment and prognosis of cognitive impairment.

Objective and subjective memory impairment in elderly adults: a revised version of the Everyday Memory Questionnaire

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Growing interest in understanding the relationship between subjective memory complaints (SMCs) and objective measures of memory abilities emphasizes the importance of SMC assessment for diagnostic purposes. The present study investigated the relationship between SMCs and objective memory deficits in elderly adults by analysis of the factor structure of the Everyday Memory Questionnaire (EMQ).

METHODS

Objective and subjective assessment of memory function was carried out in 112 elderly adults. Principal component analysis was then performed to study the factor structure of the EMQ in relation to the assessment.

RESULTS

Objective memory impairment was evident in 8.9% of elderly adults. The factor analysis showed that the most interpretable solution to detect objective changes with the EMQ comprised only 20 out of 28 items of the original list, with three factors explaining 48% of total variance. This version was more sensitive for detecting SMCs in elderly adults, since one out of the three factors was able to differentiate subjects with objective memory deficits from those without.

CONCLUSION

Taken together, these results illustrate that this 20-item version of the revised EMQ may serve as an easy-to-use instrument during clinical screening, to evaluate objective memory impairment in individuals who report SMC.