Older patients appear to experience worse neurocognitive outcomes after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT), according to a study involving 215 individuals. Participants included transplant candidates (n=140) who completed neurocognitive assessments before transplant and 3 months and 1 year post-transplant, and controls (n = 75) who were assessed at similar time intervals. Among the results:

• Regardless of age, patients about to undergo transplant performed worse in verbal memory, visual memory, and total neuropsychological performance, vs controls.
• Over time they performed worse in executive functioning, as well.
• Older age was linked with worse performance in verbal memory and verbal fluency over time in patients undergoing transplant, vs controls.
• Patients ≥65 years of age who underwent transplant had worse verbal memory and verbal fluency than older and younger controls.

The authors noted that if these results can be replicated, older patients who are candidates to receive allogeneic HCT should be counseled about potential cognitive risk.