Cognitive status of patients with viral liver disease

The article presents the results of the study of cognitive functions of patients with serious progressive viral liver diseases. This results we compared with regulatory data and clinical characteristics (the duration and severity of the pathological process, stage of hepatic encephalopathy - HE). Altogether, 50 patients with viral hepatitis (average age 46,3±9,2) and 50 healthy individuals (average age 46,5±7,8), formed the control group, were examined. All patients were in the "waiting list" of orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). To study psychomotor pace, mental working capacity, active attention and mental activity, were used unstandardized and psychometric methods. Also we examined the subjective assessment of memory and attention, as well as the severity of affective disorders (depression).The results showed a significant difference between the indicators of active attention of patients with viral hepatitis (VH) and healthy persons. This difference is especially for the concentration of attention and the rate of mental activity. The signs of a significant exhaustion (reducing mental working capacity) are not revealed. Multidimensional research of various aspects of mental activity also revealed a difference between patients with VH and regulatory group. However, the absolute figure memory («Wechsler Memory Test») does not allow to make a conclusion about total memory loss patients with VH. Eventually, a link between the indicators of attentively-mental activity, the degree of severity of HE (stage) and depression was revealed. Future trends of research associated with longitudinal study of the dynamics of cognitive functions patients with VH after orthotopic liver transplantation.