Publication Date:
2015-12-03
Description:
Background: While most patients will not experience lasting neurocognitive effects from stem cell transplant, certain subgroups of patients may be particularly vulnerable to cognitive declines. The objective of this study was to identify factors that can predict the trajectory of neurocognitive functioning changes within the first six months after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT). Methods: Adult patient scheduled for their first allogeneic HCT completed a neuropsychological test battery to assess neurocognitive functioning prior to transplant, and at 100 days and six months post-transplant. The neuropsychological testing battery consisted of six tests over 3 domains: learning/memory, psychomotor efficiency/processing speed, and executive functioning/working memory. Sociodemographic (e.g. intelligence quotient (IQ), years of education) and transplant-related (e.g. conditioning regimen, HCT-Comorbidity Index) characteristics were collected at baseline. Additional clinical characteristics were collected at each time point, including Karnofsky Performance Status, acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) graded using revised Glucksberg grading system, chronic GVHD graded with National Institutes of Health consensus criteria, and patient-reported outcomes of fatigue, depressive symptoms, and physical symptom distress. Raw scores were converted to standardized T-scores (Mean=50, SD=10) based on demographically-adjusted norms. Neurocognitive impairment was defined as performance of
Print ISSN:
0006-4971
Electronic ISSN:
1528-0020
Topics:
Biology
,
Medicine
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