Exploring the relationship between retinal damage and cognition in multiple sclerosis: a cross-sectional OCT-MRI...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Ophthalmology
• Radiology

Background:

• Cognitive impairment (CI) is a significant disability in multiple sclerosis (MS), often associated with brain neurodegeneration like atrophy.
• Optical coherence tomography (OCT) offers a potential method to assess neurodegeneration and its link to CI in MS.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between cognitive function, retinal layer thickness, and brain volumes in people with MS (pwMS).
• To determine the specific contribution of individual retinal layers to cognitive performance and neurodegeneration in MS.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 100 pwMS.
• Evaluations included neurological, neuropsychological, brain 3T-MRI for volumetric analysis, and spectral-domain OCT for retinal layer thickness (pRNFL, GCL, IPL, GCIPL).
• Statistical analyses comprised correlation, t-tests, and regression models.

Main Results:

• Thinner retinal layers correlated with reduced brain volumes and poorer cognitive performance.
• Ganglion cell layer (GCL) thickness showed the strongest association with global and domain-specific cognitive scores (processing speed, executive functions).
• Cognitively impaired pwMS exhibited significantly thinner GCL and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) compared to cognitively preserved individuals.

Conclusions:

• OCT-measured retinal damage is associated with brain atrophy and CI in pwMS.
• GCL thickness appears to be a key OCT-based marker for cognitive performance and neurodegeneration in MS, potentially more so than GCIPL.
• These findings suggest OCT can help evaluate neurodegeneration and cognitive status in MS, but require cautious interpretation.