The impact of uric acid on cognitive impairment in older and elderly patients

Objective. To evaluate the association between serum uric acid levels and cognitive status in older outpatients. Materials and methods. The study included 157 community-dwelling older and oldest-old outpatients aged 61 to 91 years, with a mean age of 77 (73; 81) years. The sex distribution was characterised by a predominance of women (n = 107; 68,2%) over men (n = 50; 31,8%). Participants were divided into two groups according to the presence of cognitive impairment based on the MoCA test: Group I with cognitive impairment (n = 134) and Group II without cognitive impairment (n = 23). Clinical, anamnestic and laboratory data, as well as the results of the MoCA and SDMT cognitive tests, were assessed in all patients. The relationship between serum uric acid and cognitive impairment was analysed using correlation analysis, with additional sex-stratified analysis. Results. No statistically significant difference in serum uric acid levels was found between the study groups (p = 0,667). There was also no association between serum uric acid levels and cognitive test results (ρ = 0,122; p = 0,136 and ρ = 0,008; p = 0,918). Conclusion. The findings indicate no association between the severity of cognitive impairment and serum uric acid levels in the studied sample