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. 2018 Dec 19;18(1):212.
doi: 10.1186/s12883-018-1224-z.

Performance in daily activities, cognitive impairment and perception in multiple sclerosis patients and their caregivers

G Fenu  1 , M Fronza  2 , L Lorefice  2 , M Arru  2 , G Coghe  2 , J Frau  2 , M G Marrosu  2 , E Cocco  2
Affiliations

Performance in daily activities, cognitive impairment and perception in multiple sclerosis patients and their caregivers

G Fenu et al. BMC Neurol. .

Abstract

Background: The relationship between cognitive assessment results in multiple sclerosis (MS) and performance in daily activities (DAs) remains unclear. Our study aimed to evaluate the relationship between cognitive functions (CF) measured by tests, performance in DAs, and the perception of CF in patients and their caregivers (CG) in MS.

Methods: The Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS) battery was used to evaluate cognitive status. We created an ad hoc questionnaire (DaQ) to assess performance in DAs not requiring specific motor skills. We used the Multiple Sclerosis Neuropsychological Questionnaire (MSNQ) to measure each patient self-judgment and caregiver's perception of CF.

Results: Forty-nine patients and their caregivers were included in the study. Significant correlations were found between the BICAMS and the DaQ (Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT): r = - 0.48, p < 0.001; California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT): r = - 0.33, p = 0.01; Brief Visual Memory Test (BVMT-R): r = - 0.42; p = 0.002); patients self-judgment (SDMT: r = - 0.38, p = 0.004; CVLT: r = - 0.26, p = 0.03); caregiver perception of patient's CF (SDMT: r = - 0.52, p < 0.001; CVLT: r = - 0.3, p = 0.01; BVMT-R: r = - 0.42, p = 0.002). The difference in perception between the patients and their caregivers was related to patient age (p = 0.001) and severity of cognitive impairment (p = 0.03).

Conclusions: Cognitive assessment results show a significant correlation with performance in daily activities and with patients and, especially, caregiver perception of cognitive impairment. These data support the importance of a routine evaluation of cognitive function in MS that includes an anamnestic evaluation of patients, and, when possible, consideration of the caregiver's point of view.

Keywords: BICAMS; Caregiver; Cognition; Daily activities; Multiple sclerosis; Neuropsychological assessment; Patients; Perception.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

All subjects included signed informed consent. The ethics committee of the University of Cagliari approved the study.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship,

and/or publication of this article.

Dr. Fenu is an editorial board member of BMC Neurology and received honoraria for consultancy from Novartis, Biogen and for speaking from Merck Serono and Teva.

Dr. Lorefice received speaker fee from Teva and serves on scientific advisory boards for Biogen.

Dr. Frau serves on scientific advisory boards for Biogen, received honoraria for speaking from Merck Serono and Teva.

Dr. Coghe and received speaker fee from Teva and Almirall.

Professor Cocco and Marrosu have received honoraria for consultancy or speaking from Bayer, Biogen, Novartis, Sanofi, Genzyme, Serono and Teva.

Dr. Fronza and Dr. Arru have nothing to disclose.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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