Different cognitive profiles of Brazilian patients with relapsing-remitting and primary progressive multiple sclerosis

Cognitive impairment is a symptom of multiple sclerosis (MS). Different clinical forms of multiple sclerosis have different cognitive profiles, according to findings of previous studies which used extensive batteries of neuropsychological tests. OBJECTIVE: To investigate cognitive profiles of Brazilian patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) by using a brief battery of neuropsychological tests. METHOD: Sixty-six patients, within 18-65 of age and 3-18 years of education, were paired with healthy control subjects, regarding gender, age, and education level. RESULTS: On Symbol Digit Modalities Test and Hooper Visual Organization Test, cognition was affected in 50% in RRMS and 69% in PPMS. Fluency of "F" was impaired in 24% of RRMS and 81% of PPMS. Immediate recall was affected in 32% of RRMS and in 63% of PPMS; whereas late recall, in 46% of relapsing-remitting and in 69% of primary progressive. CONCLUSION: Cognitive profiles of relapsing-remitting and primary progressive patients are differen

A short neuropsychological evaluation of patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome

Objective: To investigate cognitive deficits in patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome (PSS). Method: Eighteen patients with PSS, aged between 25 and 61 years, were subjected to a short neuropsychological battery and compared with 18 patients with multiple sclerosis and 18 healthy controls. Results: The analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that the clinical groups had significantly worse performance than the control group on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test 3; (F 2,53 =3.500, p=0.038) and 7 (F 2,53 =5.068, p=0.010). The clinical groups had elevated levels of depression on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI); (p=0.003). The analysis of the data from the Trail Making Test B-A revealed a significant difference between the clinical and control groups (p=0.023). The analysis of covariance with BDI score as a covariate, did not change the outcome. Conclusion: Our study revealed cognitive deficits in patients with PSS detectable by a short neuropsychological battery