Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) impairs cognitive function. Systemic inflammation plays important role in cognitive deficits. It remains unclear if systemic inflammation in TBI is associated with poor cognitive function.
Methods: From January 2018 to December 2020, two groups of subjects were recruited: patients with TBI (n = 120), and healthy control (n = 120), followed up to 3 months. Blood was collected from TBI patients and healthy control, and serum inflammatory cytokines including interferon-α (IFN-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were measured at baseline and end of 3 months. Multivariate regression was used for analysis for the relationship between cognitive function and inflammatory cytokines.
Results: Inflammatory cytokines were higher in patients with brain injury and remained high at end of 3 months. Some cytokines such as IFN-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α were associated with worsening memory and predicted poor performance.
Conclusion: Systemic inflammation in patients with TBI predicts poor cognitive function.
Keywords: cognitive function; systemic inflammation; traumatic brain injury.
© 2021 The Authors. Immunity, Inflammation and Disease published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.