Auditory P300 and neuropsychological cognitive functioning assessment of patients with chronic hepatitis B and C infection

Background A growing body of interest was addressed to the concept of minimal rather than overt hepatic encephalopathy as a subclinical manifestation in chronic hepatitis B- and C-infected patients with normal liver function. This study aims to neuropsychologically and neurophysiologically assess those patients for minimal cognitive impairment and its correlates. Patients and methods Thorough neuropsychological evaluation including Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Trail Making Test, Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test, and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and neurophysiological (P300-evoked potential) assessment were conducted on untreated blood donors with hepatitis C virus (n=24) and hepatitis B virus (n=16) infection and 40 healthy controls. Results All tools of assessment showed a significant difference between cases and controls that suggests higher incidence of depression and cognitive dysfunction among hepatitis patients with no difference between B and C types of infection apart from BDI, which showed higher scores (more depressive features) among hepatitis C rather than B. Among variables such as patient age, BMI, BDI, and viral load titer, only BDI showed a significant positive correlation with such impairments. Conclusion Neuropsychological- and neurophysiological-based evidence of cognitive impairment was proved to be significantly present among cases with chronic hepatitis B and C infection. The value of such evaluation in the management plan of such group of patients needs further future studies.