Cognitive linguistic deficits in relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis

Abstract

Background: Recent years have witnessed increasing reports of language dysfunction associated with the neuropathology of multiple sclerosis (MS). Although linguistic compromise is not traditionally thought to be a significant clinical manifestation of MS, a number of published case and group reports have uncovered the presence of higher-level language and isolated general language deficits in samples of patients with both chronic progressive and relapsing–remitting (RR) subtypes of the disease. To the present day however, the precise nature and extent of a language compromise in MS remains largely controversial and unclear.Aims: The present study aims to profile the cognitive linguistic abilities of a cohort of fifteen RR-subtype MS patients against an age- and education-matched group of neurologically normal control participants.Methods & Procedures: MS participants were assessed using a comprehensive battery of cognitive linguistic assessments targeting general and higher-level language behaviours.Outcomes & Results: The results revealed reduced performance on higher-level language subtests including: listening comprehension (making inferences), oral expression (recreating sentences), semantic absurdities and definitions. For the general language behaviours, a reduced performance was found for spontaneously elicited speech, repetition and naming.Conclusions: The findings are suggestive of both expressive language and higher-level language dysfunction in RR subtype MS and highlight deficits in linguistic organisation, retrieval mechanisms and semantic manipulation and processing.