Neurophysiological cognitive assessment and its association with neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio

Abstract

Relevance. Cognition is an important physiological and higher mental functions in human being. There are various studies showing that inflammatory condition could negatively affect fronto temporal cognitive abilities such as memory, attention and executive functions. A non-invasive test P300 a component of Auditory events related potentials and Mini mental state examination (MMSE), a questionnaire based test reflect cognitive function, and haematological parameter neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a convenient parameter of systemic inflammation. Aim of present study was to assess the cognitive function assessment by P-300, MMSE and academic performance and find an association with neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in first year medical students. Materials and Methods. This was an observational study conducted on 79 first year medical students of age group 18-25 years in the department of physiology RUHS College of medical sciences Jaipur. For cognitive assessment non-invasive test P300, MMSE and academic performance was recorded. A haematological parameter NLR was calculated by dividing the absolute neutrophil count with the absolute lymphocyte count. To find an association statistical analysis was done by MEDCALC 16.4 version software. Results and Discussion. The association between P-300 amplitude and latency and MMSE with NLR was found non-significant. Marks have a significant positive correlation with NLR (0.015). Conclusion. In the present study neurocognitive function test P-300 and MMSE found non-significant association with inflammatory marker NLR although academic performance (marks) have a significant positive correlation with NLR.

Keywords

• cognition
• event related potential
• neurocognitive function
• neutrophil / lymphocyte ratio
• mini mental state examination