Memory, Fluency Most Impaired Cognitive Domains in Patients With MS

Assessment of cognitive function in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) revealed the lowest scores to be in memory and verbal fluency compared with healthy control subjects, according to study results published in Neurological Sciences.

The case-control study included 60 consecutive patients at an outpatient MS clinic in Istanbul, Turkey. Patients were matched for age, sex, and education with 60 healthy controls. Researchers evaluated cognitive function in participants using the Addenbrooke Cognitive Assessment Battery (ACE-R) and assessed subjective cognitive function, anxiety, depression, and fatigue using validated scales.

Most patients in the study had relapsing-remitting MS. The average patient age was 38.8 and time since diagnosis was 9 years.

Patients with MS performed worse on the ACE-R as well as on attention/orientation, memory, verbal fluency, language, visuospatial, and general cognitive functioning domains than healthy control subjects, according to the study. While patient scores were lowest in memory and fluency, they were the least affected in the visuospatial domain.

When researchers investigated predictors of cognitive function in patients with MS, they found age, education, mobility, subjective cognitive dysfunction, anxiety, depression, and fatigue were associated with cognitive test scores. In the multivariable analysis, however, only education, depression, and fatigue retained significance, they reported.

“Understanding cognitive dysfunction and its predictors in patients with MS may enable health care providers to identify patients who might benefit from interventions to improve cognitive function,” they advised.

Reference:
Basci D, Tulek Z. Assessment of cognitive function and its predictors in patients with multiple  sclerosis: a case-control study. Neurol Sci. Published online November 29, 2022. doi:10.1007/s10072-022-06524-8