WEDNESDAY, July 31, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with moderate-to-high inflammation are more likely to experience cognitive impairment, according to a study published online July 29 in RMD Open.

Natalia Mena-Vázquez, Ph.D., from the Biomedical Research Institute of Malaga and Platform in Nanomedicine in Spain, and colleagues performed a cross-sectional study involving a cohort of patients with RA initiating their first biological treatment due to moderate-to-high inflammation and an age-, sex-, and education level-matched healthy control group (70 patients and 70 controls). Participants underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment; cognitive impairment was defined as a Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score <26.

The researchers found that patients with RA more often experienced cognitive impairment (60 versus 40 percent) and had lower mean values in the MoCA (23.6 versus 25.1). In terms of MoCA subtests, involvement was more marked in patients than controls in the visuospatial-executive, memory, and abstraction domains. Lower scores on executive function, which was measured by the backward digit span test, were also seen for patients (4.0 versus 4.7). In the general population, cognitive impairment was associated with age and lower education level, while among patients, associations were seen with education level, obesity, and average inflammatory activity.

“Our results underline the importance of earlier and more stringent control of the activity of arthritis and the need for new therapeutic strategies aimed at associated factors with the aim of mitigating the risk of cognitive impairment in patients with RA,” the authors write.

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