Assessment of Cognitive Impairment among Multiple Sclerosis Patients in Ismailia

Background and aim: Multiple sclerosis (MS) has shown an increasing prevalence over last decade. Cognitive impairment is a crucial implication of MS affecting patients' quality of life in different aspects. The current study is designed aiming to evaluate the cognitive impairment among multiple sclerosis patients and its association with multiple disease related factors. Patients and Methods: A total of 34 patients and another 34 age and sex matched healthy controls have been included into the study. Patients were included based on McDonald Criteria 2017. Cognitive function was evaluated among the studied participants of the study and control groups using Symbol Digit Modalities (SDM) test. Results: Cases with MS were found to have lower cognitive function as evaluated by SDM test score with statistically significant difference. Mean score was 29.9 versus 57.1 among the control participants. Median value was 57.5 in the control group and 30 in cases group. Multiple regression analysis showed that number of T2 MRI lesions and age are the most significant independent factors affecting the cognition of the patients. Conclusion: MS has significant effect on cognitive function of MS patients. This impact is significantly correlated with multiple personal and disease features including patients' age duration of disease, number of relapsed, physical disability, progressive phenotype and number of brain lesions.