School performance as a marker of cognitive decline prior to diagnosis of multiple sclerosis

For many years, cognitive impairment has been established as a well-known symptom of multiple sclerosis. Moreover, we know that it was present even at the beginning of the disease.

In this case-control study, we decided to evaluate whether there is an impairment of cognitive functions even before onset in those patients who will eventually suffer from multiple sclerosis.

We evaluated the overall school performance, and particularly school performance in math and language in a group of patients who would later develop the disease and we compared our findings with a control group.

We found that school performance was poorer in subjects who were to become patients. And we found that the later the start of the first symptom, the better the qualifications.

Testing a premorbid cognitive deficit by a validated indirect evaluation method allowed us to verify that there was evidence of neurological compromise even before a clinical diagnosis or the completion of the first magnetic resonance imaging in patients who would then suffer from multiple sclerosis.