TY - JOUR
T1 - Cognitive dysfunction in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis
AU - Nocentini, U.
AU - Pasqualetti, P.
AU - Bonavita, S.
AU - Buccafusca, M.
AU - De Caro, M. F.
AU - Farina, D.
AU - Girlanda, P.
AU - Le Pira, F.
AU - Lugaresi, A.
AU - Quattrone, A.
AU - Reggio, A.
AU - Salemi, G.
AU - Savettieri, G.
AU - Tedeschi, G.
AU - Trojano, M.
AU - Valentino, P.
AU - Caltagirone, C.
PY - 2006/2
Y1 - 2006/2
N2 - Cognitive dysfunction is considered one of the clinical markers of multiple sclerosis (MS). However, in the literature there are inconsistent reports on the prevalence of cognitive dysfunction, and separate data for the relapsing-remitting (RR) type of the disease are not always presented. In this study, we submitted 461 RRMS patients to a battery of neuropsychological tests to investigate their impairment in various cognitive domains. As a consequence of the exclusion criteria, the sample is not fully representative of the entire population of RRMS patients. In this selected sample, when only the eight scores of a core battery (Mental Deterioration Battery) were considered (with respective cutoffs), it emerged that 31% of the patients were affected by some degree of cognitive deficit. In particular, 15% had mild, 11.2% moderate and 4.8% had severe impairment. Information processing speed was the most frequently impaired area, followed by memory. When two other tests (SDMT and MCST) were added and cognitive domains were considered, it emerged that 39.3% of the patients were impaired in two or more domains. When four subgroups were obtained by means of cluster analysis and then compared, it emerged that information processing speed and memory deficits differentiated the still cognitively unimpaired from the mildly impaired MS patients. Significant associations were found between cognitive and clinical characteristics. However, due to the large sample size, clinically irrelevant relationships may also have emerged. Even with the limitations imposed by the sample selection and the possible underestimation of the prevalence and severity of cognitive dysfunction, these results seem to provide further evidence that information processing speed deficit may be an early and important marker of cognitive impairment in MS patients.
AB - Cognitive dysfunction is considered one of the clinical markers of multiple sclerosis (MS). However, in the literature there are inconsistent reports on the prevalence of cognitive dysfunction, and separate data for the relapsing-remitting (RR) type of the disease are not always presented. In this study, we submitted 461 RRMS patients to a battery of neuropsychological tests to investigate their impairment in various cognitive domains. As a consequence of the exclusion criteria, the sample is not fully representative of the entire population of RRMS patients. In this selected sample, when only the eight scores of a core battery (Mental Deterioration Battery) were considered (with respective cutoffs), it emerged that 31% of the patients were affected by some degree of cognitive deficit. In particular, 15% had mild, 11.2% moderate and 4.8% had severe impairment. Information processing speed was the most frequently impaired area, followed by memory. When two other tests (SDMT and MCST) were added and cognitive domains were considered, it emerged that 39.3% of the patients were impaired in two or more domains. When four subgroups were obtained by means of cluster analysis and then compared, it emerged that information processing speed and memory deficits differentiated the still cognitively unimpaired from the mildly impaired MS patients. Significant associations were found between cognitive and clinical characteristics. However, due to the large sample size, clinically irrelevant relationships may also have emerged. Even with the limitations imposed by the sample selection and the possible underestimation of the prevalence and severity of cognitive dysfunction, these results seem to provide further evidence that information processing speed deficit may be an early and important marker of cognitive impairment in MS patients.
KW - Cognition impairment
KW - Information processing speed
KW - Multiple sclerosis
KW - Relapsing-remitting
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=31644449387&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=31644449387&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1191/135248506ms1227oa
DO - 10.1191/135248506ms1227oa
M3 - Article
C2 - 16459723
AN - SCOPUS:31644449387
VL - 12
SP - 77
EP - 87
JO - Multiple Sclerosis
JF - Multiple Sclerosis
SN - 1352-4585
IS - 1
ER -