Prevalence, Severity, and Progression of Cerebellar Cognitive-Affective Syndrome in Patients With Spinocerebellar...

Cerebellar cognitive-affective syndrome (CCAS) results from cerebellar degeneration, but its prevalence in spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) remains underexplored. This study assessed CCAS prevalence, severity, and progression across different SCAs.

We included polyglutamine (PolyQ) SCA expansion carriers (ATXN1/SCA1, ATXN2/SCA2, ATXN3/SCA3, and ATXN7/SCA7), patients with FGF14/SCA27B and SPG7, and controls. Cognitive function was assessed with the CCAS scale and ataxia severity with the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) and Composite Cerebellar Functional Severity (CCFS) score. We correlated CCAS score with ataxia severity, brain MRI, and plasma neurofilament light chain (NfL) levels. Subtest comparisons among genotypes were adjusted for age, education, and SARA score. In PolyQ SCA carriers, we explored CCAS progression.

We included 371 participants: 66 with SCA1, 28 with SCA2, 158 with SCA3, 24 with SCA7, 35 with SPG7, 17 with SCA27B, and 43 controls. Those with SCA27B and SPG7 were older (69.5 ± 9.5 and 57.8 ± 10.6 years) with lower education (11.4 ± 4.2 and 12.7 ± 3.6 years) than those with PolyQ SCAs (from 40.3 ± 14.0 for SCA7 group to 45.9 ± 11.2 years in SCA3 group, p < 0.0001; education ranging from 14.4 ± 3.1 for SCA2 group to 15.4 ± 2.8 years for SCA7 group, p < 0.0001). Among ataxic patients, definite CCAS was detected in 88% of patients with SCA27B and 71% of SPG7 carriers, followed by SCA2 (67%), SCA7 (67%), SCA1 (50%), and SCA3 (41%) groups. Among preataxic PolyQ SCA carriers, CCAS was present in 11% (10/89), similar to controls (11.6%, p = 1). However, phonemic fluency showed an early impairment in preataxic SCA1 carriers (11.8 ± 4.5 vs 14.6 ± 3.8, p = 0.04). In PolyQ SCA carriers, the CCAS total raw score correlated with SARA score (r = -0.54, p < 0.0001), CCFS score (r = -0.45; p < 0.0001), and plasma NfL levels (r = -0.26, p = 0.002). CCAS scores correlated with cerebellar volume in those with SCA2 (r = 0.64, p < 0.001). Patients with SPG7 showed significantly poorer performance in executive function, short-term memory, and abstract reasoning compared with those with SCA3 and SCA7. In PolyQ SCA carriers, improvements were observed during the first 3 years after inclusion (+2.0 ± 0.7 points, p = 0.002; +2.6 ± 0.8 points, p = 0.0007; +2.7 ± 0.8, p = 0.001, respectively). By year 4, the increase was not significant (+0.73 ± 1.16 points, p = 0.52).

We observed early cognitive impairment in PolyQ SCA carriers, correlating with clinical measures, NfL levels, and cerebellum volume. Improvement over 3 years likely reflects a practice effect, potentially limiting the scale's longitudinal utility.