Evaluation of Conner's continuous performance test in hemodialysis patients

Memory and cognitive abnormalities such as decreased attention span, impulsiveness, and slow reaction are common among chronic hemodialysis patients. We studied the changes these parameters in 38 hemodialysis patients before and after hemodialysis sessions via Conner's continuous performance test. Mean age of the study patients was 38.0 +/- 12.6 years. There was no significant difference before and after hemodialysis in the number of the successfully recognized matches, the number of the miss fires, and the mean of reaction time of matches. In addition, there was no significant effect of the duration of hemodialysis therapy on the number of successfully recognized matches, the number of missed matches, and the mean reaction time of matches. Educational level of patients did not significantly impact on the number of successfully recognized matches and the mean of reaction time of matches. However, this impact was significant on the number of miss fires during hemodialysis. (P = 0.04). We conclude from our results that hemodialysis did not significantly impact on the cognitive function. However, this hypothesis must be confirmed by other cognitive function tests on larger hemodialysis population.