Objective  To explore the correlations between cognitive dysfunction and features of syndromes of traditional Chinese medicine in patients with maintenance hemodialysis (MHD).

  Methods  A total of 113 MHD patients in blood purification center of Wuxi Ninth People's Hospital Affiliated to Soochow University from January 2018 to January 2021 were selected, and they were divided into normal cognitive function group (n=53) and cognitive dysfunction group (n=60) after evaluation of the Chinese version Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). The differences in age, gender, dialysis age, primary diseases, dialysis frequency, history of stroke, laboratory indexes, distributions and scores of syndromes of traditional Chinese medicine were compared between the two groups.

  Results  There were significant differences in age, history of stroke, serum albumin (Alb) and Malnutrition-inflammation Score (MIS) between the two groups (P < 0.05). The distribution rate and score of syndrome of stasis blood obstructing collaterals in the cognitive dysfunction group were significantly higher than those in the normal cognitive function group (P < 0.01). Binary Logistic regression analysis showed that age, history of stroke, MIS score and syndrome of stasis blood obstructing collaterals were the independent influencing factors for cognitive dysfunction in MHD patients (P < 0.01).

  Conclusion  Cognitive dysfunction is frequently occurred in MHD patients, and the syndromes of stasis blood obstructing collaterals, deficiency of kidney essence and deficiency of Qi and blood are the common types. Cognitive dysfunction is related to syndrome of stasis blood obstructing collaterals.