Mental performance in CAPD

Impaired cognitive function is part of an array of neurologic manifestations seen in patients with end stage renal disease. We investigated whether a difference exists in mental performance between patients on hemodialysis and on CAPD. The trial test A was administered in standardized fashion, and the time required to complete the test was used as a function of mental performance. A group of age and sex matched healthy controls was included for comparison. The results indicate that performance in the trail test A was markedly different among the three groups; controls did the test in 30.7 +/- 2.4 sec (n = 17), CAPD in 47.2 +/- 6.4 (p less than 0.05) and hemodialysis patients in 82.6 +/- 11 (p less than 0.005). Patients on CAPD completed the test significantly faster than those on hemodialysis (p less than 0.05). This observation of a significantly better mental performance by patients in CAPD than in patients in hemodialysis is likely to be multifactorial, and its significance is unclear, but this may be of interest to the clinician and patients contemplating different dialysis modalities.