Epidemiological characteristics of cognitive impairment of multiple sclerosis patients in a Latin American country

Abstract

We assessed cognitive performance and physical disability in 111 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and 222 healthy controls in a multicenter study in Argentina to obtain the prevalence of cognitive impairment (CI) in a population of MS outpatients in Argentina. MS patients presented significantly lower scores in all Brief Repeatable Battery of Neuropsychology (BRB-N) tests than did the control group. The prevalence of CI was 43.2%. This study allowed us to obtain actual figures on the number of MS patients with CI in a Latin American sample. This validation is a very useful tool for clinical practice and for research studies to assess cognition in MS.

Keywords:

• Multiple sclerosis
• Neuropsychology
• Cognitive impairment
• Brief repeatable battery
• Epidemiology

Acknowledgments

RECONEM Work Group: Neurologists: E. Crespo, G. Arguello, M. Zapata, P. Torres, J. Brizuela, C. Sonia, C. Ballario, D. Segura, V. Sinay, R. F. Pelli Noble, M. Cáceres, L. Rodríguez, D. Zuin, J. Fernández, J. Correale, F. Manes, A. M. López, C. Geremía, P. Nofal, M. F. Páez, D. Muñoz, J. Secchi, G. Saredo, V. Lovell, M. Amores, O. Colombo, R. Piedrabuena, R. Giobellina, N. Fernández Liguori, O. Garcea. Neuropsychologists: M. Antonelli, L. Ayuso, M. Barcellone, P. Brizuela, N. Cagnolo, M. Castagna, A. Cuevas,M. Gagliardi, M. Levy, M. Martini, J. Milanesio, C. Ortiz, G. Pajón, M. Pelufo, M. Ramírez, M. Rivadeneira, A. Scioscia, M. Scioscia, F. Secchi, M. Strumia, I. Taussik, G. Tumminello, C. Ussher.

We thank Laura Ación, Lorena Allemandi, and Valeria Cores for their comments on this manuscript and discussion of the data.