The relationship between serum albumin, bilirubin and cognitive impairment in patients with mild cognitive impairment

CHU Zhong-hai; WANG Wen-jing; HAN Li-zhu; WU Lei

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1006-5725.2015.17.017

Abstract：Objective To investigate the relationship between serum albumin, bilirubin and cognitive impairment in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods Serum albumin, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, indirect bilirubin were analyzed in 89 cases of MCI and 82 cases of cognitively normal control. All of the cases underwent neuropsychological testing by Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). The risk factors of MCI were subject to Logistic regression analysis. Results The serum level of total bilirubin in MCI group were significantly lower than that in controls (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in albumin between MCI and control group (P > 0.05). The bilirubin level was positively correlated with MMSE scores and MoCA scores (including attention, delayed recall and abstract) (P < 0.05), while no significant correlation between serum albumin level and scores of MMSE and MoCA (P > 0.05) by using Spearman correlation analysis. Logistic regression analysis showed that age, education level, diabetes and serum bilirubin levels were independent risk factors for MCI. Conclusion Our data show that decreased serum level of bilirubin is positively related to cognitive impairment.