Dados do Trabalho

Título

The interface between Social cognition and neuropsychiatric symptoms in multiple sclerosis: a neuropsychological investigation

Resumo

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) manifests with motor deficits and non-motor symptoms, such as cognitive decline. One of the cognitive domains affected in MS is social cognition (SC), which refers to cognitive processes related to the perception, understanding, and mental inference, and is essential to interpersonal exchanges Studies of SC in MS are still limited and the influence of depression, fatigue, and apathy on SC performance is unclear.

Objective: To investigate the profile of patients with relapsing-remitting MS (RR-MS) in SC tests, and to explore correlations of SC measures with depression, fatigue and apathy.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included included two groups: 20 patients with stable RR-MS (mean age = 40.15±10.15, mean schooling 15.35±1.98, 4 men/16 women, mean EDSS score = 2.5±1.5) and 20 healthy controls (mean age = 40.2±10.17, mean schooling 16.3±1.9, 4men/16 women). RR-MS patients had no relapses in the last 90 days and no other neurological diseases. All participants underwent the Beck Depression Inventory, Apathy Scale, Fatigue Scale (MFIS), Brief International Cognitive Assessment for MS (BICAMS), Hayling test, and semantic (animal) fluency. SC was assessed with the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test (RMET), and the mini-version of the Social Emotional Assessment (mini-SEA), which is composed by the facial emotion recognition test (FERT) and the modified Faux-Pas test (mFP), which assesses mentalizing.

Results: Groups did not differ on age, sex and educational level. Compared to controls, RR-MS patients had lower performance on semantic fluency (p<0.014) and on working memory (p<0.011), but not on episodyc memory. Patients had higher score on the Apathy Scale (p<0.004), but not on depression scale. Regarding SC scores, patients underperformed on the FERT (p<0.024) and in the mFP(p<0.016), but not in the RMET. SC measures did not correlate with depression, apathy of fatigue.

Conclusion: Patients with RR-MS present SC deficits, which seem independent of neuropsychiatric symptoms. More studies are warranted to investigate the interface between SC deficits and psychiatric symptoms in MS.

Palavras Chave

Multiple sclerosis, social cognition, neuropsychiatric symptoms