[Cognitive disorders in burnout syndrome].

Abstract

Objective: To study the impairment of cognitive functions in patients with different stages of the burnout syndrome (BS).

Material and methods: 78 patients aged 25-45 years (average age 36.9±9.5 years) were examined, which at the BS stage were divided into two subgroups: Residence (51.3%, n=40) and Exhaustion (48.7%, n=38). The control group consisted of 106 practically healthy (average age 36.3±7.2 years) The following methods were used: Russian-language version of the MBI questionnaire, questionnaire to diagnose the level of emotional burnout by V.V. Boyko, questionnaire CFQ, method «Learning 10 words» by A.R. Luria, registration of cognitive evoked potentials (EP) in the psychophysiological visual test VCPT.

Results: Subjective symptoms of memory loss were in 47 patients (60.3% of the total number of patients with EBS): 17 patients (42.5%) from the subgroup Resistance and 30 patients (78.9%) from the subgroup Exhaustion. The quantitative evaluation of the subjective symptoms in the CFQ test showed a reliable increase in all patient groups (p<0.05) and especially in the subgroup Exhaustion. There was statistically reliable decrease of the P200 component in subgroup Resistence and control group in the alloys Cz (p<0.001) and Fz (p<0.001), as well as statistically reliable reduction of the P300 component in the indicated leads (Cz (p<0.001) and Pz (p<0.001)) in patients in the subgroup Resistance. Most BS patients had cognitive complaints that were more common at the Exhaustion stage. At the same time, objective cognitive impairments were detected only in patients at the stage of Exhaustion. Only the long-term memory is affected. Psychophysiological research has shown a decrease in the level of attention in both subgroups, which demonstrated an increased impairment of mental processes.

Conclusion: Cognitive impairment in patients with BS manifests in various forms of attention, memory impairment, and performance degradation in the resistance and exhaustion phases, and can result from high asthenization.