Objective: To evaluate the cognitive status in patients with bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease (COPD).
Methods: 40 patients with bronchial asthma, 40 patients with COPD and 20 healthy subjects (control)
were included in the study. Comparison was done between the three groups in both Montreal
Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test and P300 latency. Also, correlation between these scores and patient
characteristic parameters were evaluated.
Results: There was a significant prolongation in P300 latency (P < 0.04) and reduced MoCA scores in COPD
group compared to asthma group (P < 0.002). 34/40 COPD patients had prolongation of P300 latency and
reduced MoCA scores. However, 20/40 asthma patients had prolongation of P300 latency and 24/40
asthma patients had reduced MoCA scores. P300 latency correlated significantly with age (r = 0.423,
P < 0.007), duration of disease(r = 0.622, P < 0.0001) PaO2 (r = 0.490, P < 0.001), SaO2 (r = 0.496,
P < 0.003) and degree of the disease (FEV1/FVC) (r = 0.353, P < 0.026) in COPD group. MoCA score was
significantly correlated with WBC (r = 0.45) in COPD group and with BMI (r = 0.236, P < 0.05) in asthma
group. There was no correlation between P300 latency and patients’ characteristics in asthma group
(P > 0.05).
Conclusions: COPD significantly decreased the cognitive status compared to bronchial asthma. Longer
latency of P300 appears to be an expected sequel of COPD. MoCA abnormalities were comparable to
P300 abnormalities in COPD and asthma patients.