Structural magnetic resonance imaging is the most clinical
approach used to detect brain abnormalities in individuals
who might be at risk for Alzheimer’s disease and
MCI [12,25,26]. Recent studies have reported that hippocampal
atrophy can be used as a biomarker for cognitive
dysfunction and the rate of hippocampal atrophy was
significantly correlated with the cognitive function in
Alzheimer’s disease [13]. To our knowledge, quantitative
assessment of the hippocampal region in COPD
patients has not yet been carried out. In our previous
study, we observed an association between cognitive
decline and the classification of severity during disease
progression in COPD patients [9]. In the present study,