Prevalence and risk factors of cognitive impairment in chronic kidney disease patients receiving different renal replacement therapies: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Cognitive impairment (CI) is common in chronic kidney disease (CKD). We quantified its prevalence across renal-replacement therapies (RRTs) and identified independent predictors.METHODS: In this cross-sectional study (November 2023-November 2024, Mother Teresa University Hospital, Tirana), 319 adults completed the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA): 193 CKD patients (hemodialysis [HD]=96; peritoneal dialysis [PD]=22; renal transplantation [TX]=75) and 126 non-CKD controls. Independent t-tests/ANOVA compared mean scores; multivariable logistic regression (N.=193 complete cases) modelled CI (mild-severe). Discrimination was assessed with a receiver-operating-characteristic (ROC) curve.RESULTS: CKD participants scored lower on MoCA than controls (23.1±3.1 vs. 24.4±2.6; P