The characteristics of cognitive impairment in neuromyelitis optica patients / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the characteristics of cognitive impairment in neuromyelitis optica (NMO) patients.Methods 12 NMO patients,15 multiple sclerosis(MS) patients and 15 healthy people were collected and grouped as NMO group,MS group and normal control group.The five cognitive domains including working memory and information processing speed,verbal memory ability,semantic fluency,visual spatial structure and visuospatial recall ability,and executive function were evaluated respectively by the five tests,which are the 3/2 second edition of Chinese Version Auditory Continuous Addition test (PASAT3/2),the Chinese Rey Auditory Verbal Learning test (CRAVLT),Verbal Fluency test (VFT),the Rey Complex Figure test (RCFT) and the Chinese Version of the Stroop Colour-Word test (Stroop).The severity of somatic dysfunction and disability,depression,anxiety,fatigue and the sleep quality were evaluated both in NMO and MS patients by the Expanded Disability Status Scale Rating Scale (EDSS),Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD),Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA),Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI).Analysis of variance,MannWhitney and Kruskal-Wallis H test were performed to determine significant differences among three groups.Results The PASAT3 accomplishments were (33.3 ± 9.6),(38.9 ± 14.3),(45.5 ± 8.6) respectively,the VFT scores were (24.8 ± 8.7),(26.4 ± 8.4),(31.7 ± 4.7) respectively in NMO group,MS group and control group,and the differences of PASAT3 and VFT among three groups were significant (P ＜ 0.05).However,PASAT2,CRAVLT (N1-5,N6,7,8,9),RCFT and Stroop test scores were not significant differenence (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion NMO patients exist obstacle in working memory and information processing speed,semantic fluency,but still retain other aspects of the verbal memory capacity,executive function,visual-spatial structures and visual memory ability.The characteristics of cognitive impairment in NMO patients are not exactly the same as in MS patients.