[Cognitive function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease]

Abstract

It is increasingly recognized that COPD is a multi-component disease, but little attention has been paid to its effects on cognition. Cognitive dysfunction is associated with increased disability of daily living and mortality. However, it remains to be elucidated in COPD. Our main findings are: 1) cognitive dysfunction in patients with COPD is related to the grade of activity of daily livings and hypoxemia, especially in exercise-induced hypoxemia; 2) cognitive impairment such as perception, attention and short memory are impaired; 3) attention function determined by Trail Making Test is improved by O2 inhalation with the increase in the prefrontal cortex oxygenation; 4) by 8 week exercise training, cognitive function in COPD is improved with the increase in the prefrontal circulation.