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Language functions in patients with multiple sclerosis
K B Friend1, B M Rabin, L Groninger
1National Center for the Advancement of Prevention, Rockville, MD 20852, USA. friend@pire.org
The Clinical Neuropsychologist
|August 11, 2000
Summary
Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) exhibit significant language impairments, including naming and verbal fluency deficits, compared to healthy individuals. These language difficulties are more pronounced in chronic-progressive MS than relapsing-remitting MS.
Area of Science:
- Neurology
- Linguistics
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating disease affecting the central nervous system.
- Language impairment is not widely recognized as a primary symptom of MS.
- Previous research on MS and language functions is limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate language functions (naming, comprehension, verbal fluency) in MS patients versus controls.
- To determine if MS patients exhibit language impairment.
- To clarify MS-related language disturbances across different disease courses.
Main Methods:
- Comparative study design.
- Assessment of naming, aural comprehension, letter fluency, and category fluency.
- Inclusion of patients with relapsing-remitting MS and chronic-progressive MS, and healthy controls.
Main Results:
- MS patients performed significantly worse than controls on naming, comprehension, and fluency tasks.
- Chronic-progressive MS patients scored lower than relapsing-remitting MS patients on comprehension and fluency.
- Language deficits in MS may be linked to other cognitive impairments.
Conclusions:
- Patients with MS demonstrate significant language impairments.
- Disease course influences the severity of MS-related language deficits.
- Language assessment is crucial for comprehensive MS patient care.
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