creator Fong, Wing Man advisor Lee, Eun-Jeong Cancer is a common disease that increases in prevalence with age; it predominantly affects individuals over the age of 55. Cancer can be associated with a number of health complications due to the disease itself and/or its treatments such as higher risk of infection, anemia, fatigue, and cognitive dysfunction. Risks of developing these complications increase with age. Despite the increased vulnerability among older individuals, the existing literature and clinical trials show a disproportionately low enrollment rate for this population. This study aimed to provide to a mechanism-based understanding of cognitive impairment in older patients with hematologic malignancy who were scheduled to undergo hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Emerging evidence suggests that a significant portion of older persons with cancer demonstrate cognitive impairment prior to HSCT, and that cognitive deficits prior to HSCT are related to post-transplant complications. Hence, the goals of the study were to characterize cognitive impairment in older cancer patients prior to HSCT, and to examine the relations between cognitive impairment, depression, and inflammation. Sixty-one patients with hematologic malignancy participated in the current study and were administered a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment. Results showed that 50% of the sample was impaired on verbal memory. Correlation analyses revealed a significant association between depression and attention, with inflammation found to be a non-significant mediator. Possible alternative explanations with implications for future research and limitations of the study were discussed. Submitted by Erma Thomas (thomase@iit.edu) on 2016-02-11T21:57:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 etdadmin_upload_370319.zip: 750679 bytes, checksum: d40e535a90025d506defc571309904f6 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-11T21:57:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 etdadmin_upload_370319.zip: 750679 bytes, checksum: d40e535a90025d506defc571309904f6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-07 Ph.D. in Psychology, July 2015 2015 2015-07 http://hdl.handle.net/10560/3701 en Cognitive function C-reactive protein Depression Hematologic malignancies Inflammation Stem cell transplantation Dissertation born digital application/pdf In Copyright http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/ Restricted Access PSYCH / Institute of Psychology Illinois Institute of Technology Affiliated department