Relationships among Anxiety, Depression, and Executive Functioning in Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

Anxiety is a common psychiatric symptom among patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), however compared to depression it is relatively under-studied. The relative contribution of anxiety and depression to cognitive functioning was evaluated among 77 persons with MS. Participants completed the Chicago Multiscale Depression Inventory, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and neuropsychological measures of executive functioning. Regression analyses indicated that, although both depression and anxiety independently predicted performance on an index of executive functioning, anxiety was uniquely associated with cognitive functioning in MS, above and beyond depression. These results suggest that consideration of anxiety in the assessment and treatment of MS patients is warranted.

Keywords:

• Comorbidity
• Autoimmune disorders of the nervous system
• Neuropsychological tests
• Affect
• Thinking
• Emotions

Acknowledgments

The data published in this article represent part of a dissertation awarded to the first author. Presented in part at the 29th Annual Meeting of the International Neuropsychological Society, Chicago, IL, February 2001. Supported by grants FG 1481- A- 1 from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society

Special thanks to the many neurologists in the inland northwest, particularly Drs. William Bender, Jon Tippin, and John Wurst, who contributed their time to verifying MS diagnoses and ratings of course for the MS participants in the project. We would also like to thank Doreen Evans, Diane Wicks, and Lorri Bays for their help with the project in the Spokane area. Additionally, we thank Chris Higginson, John Randolph, William Voss, Bruce Wright, Jennifer Geier, Jan Kusch, Eman Ziada, and Cindy Eason for their help with various aspects of the project. Finally, we express our gratitude to the MS participants who generously contributed their time to helping us better understand the nature of multiple sclerosis.

We acknowledge that any human data included in this manuscript was obtained in compliance with regulations of our institution(s). Human research was completed in accordance with the guidelines of the Helsinki Declaration.