Abstract
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory and neurodegenerative disorder that affects primarily the cerebral white matter, thereby causing both physical and psychological disability. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible relationship between cognitive function and depression severity in MS patients, as well as sensitivity and specificity characteristics of the BRBNT (The Brief Repeatable Battery of Neuropsychological Tests). We investigated 41 MS patients and 52 healthy people.Forty-one controls were selected from fifty-two healthy subjects and were individually matched with MS subjects for age, gender and education. BRBNT (Rao and Peyser, 1986) was designed for measuring verbal learning, visuospatial learning, sustained attention and concentration, information processing speed and verbal fluency cognitive functions. The B version of the BRBNT was translated and used in our study. Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (BDI-II) (Beck, 1996) was used for the evaluation of depression severity.Results of our study confirmed that depression severity was associated with verbal learning: Consistent Long Term Retrieval and the Delayed Recall significantly negatively related to depression severity. The relationship between information processing speed and depression severity was also negative, but not statistically significant. The five individual BRBNT tests separately did not significantly discriminate healthy controls from MS patients; however, when all the five BRBNT tests put together we found 100% sensitivity of and 100% specificity.Our findings lead to the conclusion that neuropsychological testing is important in organizing help strategies for MS patients. BRBNT is a sensitive measure of cognitive function in MS, and may assist with differential diagnosis. Similarly, BRBNT could well be applied to other groups of patients, whose illness results in physical and/or cognitive functional limitations.
Highlights
Rûta SargautytëNors susirgus iðsëtine skleroze (IS) 40–70% þmoniø sutrinka kognityvinis funkcionavimas, o depresija taip pat daþnai lydi IS (nustatoma 27–54% serganèiøjø), duomenys apie jø sàryðá gana prieðtaringi
Iðsëtinë sklerozë (IS) yra demielinizuojanti uþdegiminë centrinës nervø sistemos liga, sutrikdanti nerviniø impulsø perdavimo á ávairias kûno vietas funkcijas (TLK-10 kodas G35: iðsëtinë sklerozë)
Dël paþeidimø smegenø pusrutuliuose ir didþiojoje smegenø jungtyje gali atsirasti kognityvinio funkcionavimo ir nuotaikos sutrikimø (Wishart et al, 1995)
Summary
Nors susirgus iðsëtine skleroze (IS) 40–70% þmoniø sutrinka kognityvinis funkcionavimas, o depresija taip pat daþnai lydi IS (nustatoma 27–54% serganèiøjø), duomenys apie jø sàryðá gana prieðtaringi. Jog statistiðkai reikðmingo ryðio tarp kognityvinio funkcionavimo sutrikimø ir depresiðkumo neaptikta (DeLuca et al, 1994; Grafman et al, 1991), kiti duomenys rodo, jog depresiðkumas statistiðkai reikðmingai koreliuoja su informacijos apdorojimo greièio ir atminties rodikliais (Demaree et al, 2003; Shawaryn et al, 2002; Grafman et al, 1990). Ðio darbo tikslas – patikrinti kognityvinio funkcionavimo ir depresiðkumo sàryðio sergant IS egzistavimà, pirmà kartà Lietuvoje pritaikant BRBNT testø rinkiná kognityviniam funkcionavimui vertinti ir nustatant jo jautrumo bei specifiðkumo rodiklius, t. Kad sveikø þmoniø grupë pagal amþiø, lytá bei iðsilavinimo trukmæ bûtø ekvivalentiðka serganèiøjø IS grupei, individualaus poravimo bûdu buvo atrinktas 41 sveikas kontrolinës grupës tiriamasis nuo 24 iki 59 metø (amþiaus vidurkis – 40,1 m.), o iðsilavinimo trukmë – nuo 12 iki 19 metø (vidurkis – 15,27 m.). Þmones tyrëme dviejuose Lietuvos miestuose. 29 (70,73%) serganèiøjø IS grupës asmenis tyrëme Vilniuje, 12 (29,27%) – Varënoje. 32 (78,05%) sveikø þmoniø grupës respondentus tyrëme Vilniuje, 9 (21,95%) – Varënoje
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