Role of superoxide dismutase and fibrinogen in patients with cognitive impairment and depressive symptoms

Abstract

Among patients with neurocognitive disorder (NCD), depressive symptoms have a high frequency of presentation. Inflammation and oxidative stress play a fundamental role in the initiation and development of the pathophysiology of NCD. Fibrinogen is a recognized inflammatory marker, while superoxide dismutase stands out among the endogenous antioxidant factors. This work aims to establish the relationship between inflammatory and oxidative stress biomarkers in patients with depressive symptoms and NCD.

The study was an observational prospective analytical cross-sectional study, with patients who attended the consultation spontaneously due to cognitive symptoms and were included after signing informed consent. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) were used as screening tests. The levels of fibrinogen (mg/DL) in plasma and superoxide dismutase (SOD) (U/ml) in red blood cell lysate were quantified by spectrophotometry. For biomarkers, a simple linear regression model was used, with biomarkers as the dependent variable and all other variables as independent prognostic factors. A significance level of p<0.05 was established for all cases.

76 patients were studied with a mean age of 68.39 ± 11.86 years, predominantly female, years of schooling were 08.13 ± 04.40. The MoCA test score was below the cut-off point (22.36 ± 06.30). For GDS, the score was 5.70 ± 0.63. Linear regression analysis showed a negative association between the GDS score and MoCA (p= 0.0008), observing that both fibrinogen and SOD increased in the presence of depressive symptoms (p= 0.0322 and p=0.0165).

These results support the evidence in favor of the inflammatory and oxidative stress association linked to depressive symptoms in patients with NCD, opening new therapeutic horizons.