Objective To investigate the correlation between levels of interleukin-6 （IL-6），in-terleukin-8 （IL-8）and tumor necrosis factor-α（ TNF-α）in peripheral blood and cognitive function in patients with Alzheimer disease （AD）. Methods Ninety patients with Alzheimer disease treated in Yanzhou Hospital of Affiliated Hospital of Ji’ning Medical College from January 2015 to January 2016 were selected as the study group. Ninety healthy subjects who were examined at the same period in our hospital were selected as the control group. IL-8 and TNF-α levels in peripheral blood were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay（ELISA）. The cognitive function and ability of daily living were assessed by Mini-Mental State Examination （MMSE）and Clinical Dementia Rating Scale （CDR）. The differences of inflammatory factors between two groups were compared. And the correlation between the expression of inflammatory factors and cognitive function wasanalyzed. Results The levels of IL-6，IL-8 and TNF-α in peripheral blood in the study group were signifi-cantly higher than that in the control group ［（128.64±10.28）pg/ml vs （103.59±8.72）pg/ml，（134.32±9.67）pg/mlvs（101.45±7.32）pg/ml，（221.39±23.54）pg/ml vs （109.68±18.76）pg/ml，P＜ 0.05］. Education was a pro-tective factor of cognitive function in AD patients，while the levels of IL-6，IL-8 and TNF-α were risk factors （ P＜0.05）. IL-6 and TNF-α were negatively correlated with MMSE scores in all subjects（r=-0.314，-0.079； P＜0.05）. But no correlation was found between IL-8 and MMSE scores. Conclusions The levels of IL-6 and TNF-α in peripheral blood were correlated with cognitive function in patients with mild AD.