Effect of Hb% on Cognitive Skills in UG Medical Students.

INTRODUCTION The cognitive functions in adults can be altered by a number of diseases, nutritional deficiencies, hormonal changes, ageing and drugs. Anaemia, through various possible mechanisms, has been suggested to result in a cognitive deterioration. AIM AND OBJECTIVE To study the effect of Hb% on cognitive skills of 100 UG medical students of Sree Balaji Medical College and Hospital, Chromepet, Chennai, India. METHODOLOGY One hundred UG medical students who were in the age group of 17 to 19 years were selected and their Hb% estimations were done by using Drabkin's method. Their cognitive skills were assessed by using the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). Correlation between Hb% and their cognitive skills was done. RESULTS This study showed that there was a significant correlation between the Hb concentration and the cognitive skills in the students.