Journal of Alzheimers Disease & Parkinsonism
Open Access

Research Article

Association of Inflammation and Possible Mild Cognitive Decline Measured by the Stroop Cognitive Function Test

Fabrègue F^1,2, Butkowski E², Voigt A^2,3, Mouquot G^1,2, de Jong B², Stachowiak FJ^2,4 and Jelinek HF^2,5*

¹Faculty of Sciences, University of Poitiers, Poitiers, France

²School of Community Health, Charles Sturt University, Albury, Australia

³Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Free University of Berlin, Germany

⁴SRH University of Applied Health Sciences, Gera, Germany

⁵Australian School of Advanced Medicine, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

*Corresponding Author:

Jelinek HF
School of Community Health, Charles Sturt University, Albury, Australia
Tel: 61427681754
E-mail: hjelinek@csu.edu.au

Received date: May 11, 2016; Accepted date: May 20, 2016; Published date: May 27, 2016

Citation: Fabrègue F, Butkowski E, Voigt A, Mouquot G, de Jong B, et al. (2016) Association of Inflammation and Possible Mild Cognitive Decline Measured by the Stroop Cognitive Function Test. J Alzheimers Dis Parkinsonism 6:237. doi:10.4172/2161-0460.1000237

Copyright: © 2016 Fabrègue F, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Alzheimer’s disease and dementia have been shown to be associated with various inflammatory markers. However the association between mild cognitive decline (MCI) and inflammation is not conclusive. Determining MCI requires a battery of tests of which the Stroop battery is one that is often used to assess cognitive function. The current study investigated the level of inflammation and the correlation to the RIT and NIT assessment of MCI in a rural cohort attending a health screening clinic.

Ninety-six participants free of diagnosed MCI undertook the Stroop testing battery and were divided into a short reaction time (SRT) and a long reaction time (loRT) group based on the RIT and NIT results. Serum Interleukin (IL-10, IL-6, IL1-β), Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1), C-Reactive Protein (CRP) and the Monocyte Chemotactic Protein-1 (MCP-1) levels were measured using commercial ELISA kits.

CRP was significantly higher in the hiRT group based on RIT (p=0.022). IL-1 β was associated with NIT (p=0.039). MCP-1 was significant only for NIT (p<0.01). The IL-10 (p<0.01) was significantly lower (p=0.0096) and the IL-6/IL-10 ratio significantly higher in the hiRT group regardless whether RIT or NIT was used (p<0.03).

The study extends previous work indicating an association between cognitive function measured by the Stroop battery and inflammation. IL-10 and the IL-6/IL-10 ratio are the most appropriate markers to use to assess the level of inflammation associated with reaction time and hence cognitive function.

Keywords