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[Cognitive performance and quality of life in multiple sclerosis in Gipuzkoa]
Andone Sistiaga1, Tamara Castillo-Triviño, Jone Aliri
1Universidad del Pais Vasco, Leioa, Espana.
Introduction:
Cognitive impairment and the presence of depressive symptoms, which are commonly found in patients with multiple sclerosis, affect the patients' quality of life. AIM. To describe the quality of life, cognitive compromise and levels of depression, in relation to other clinical variables, in patients with multiple sclerosis in the province of Gipuzkoa.
Patients And Methods:
A total of 114 patients were submitted to neuropsychological evaluation. The MSQoL-54 and Beck's Depression Inventory were applied to evaluate the quality of life and levels of depression. Three main analyses were performed: a comparison of cognitive performance among subtypes, an analysis of the correlation among clinical, neuro-psychological and quality of life variables, and an analysis of the effects of gender on cognitive performance.
Results:
A neuropsychological pattern is found in multiple sclerosis that is characterised by a slowing of the processing of information and attentional difficulties. Quality of life is related with depressive syndromes and with overall cognitive performance but not with clinical factors such as the rate of attacks or the length of time the disease lasts. The data confirm the existence of poorer cognitive performance in males, above all in terms of verbal auditory memory.
Conclusions:
Gender is presented as a factor that modulates the impact of the disease on cognitive performance, which reinforces the interest in conducting studies that clarify the origin of such differences. Furthermore, the quality of life displays a greater relationship with the degree of adaptation to the disease than with its symptoms.
