Cognitive impairment among patients with multiple sclerosis: associations with employment and quality of life

ObjectivesTo explore the relationship between cognitive impairment and conventional measures of disability in multiple sclerosis (MS), quality of life (QOL) and employment status using the brief international cognitive assessment for multiple sclerosis (BICAMS) in the routine outpatient clinic.Metho...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Postgraduate medical journal Vol. 93; no. 1097; pp. 143 - 147
Main Authors: Campbell, J, Rashid, W, Cercignani, M, Langdon, D
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England Oxford University Press 01.03.2017
Subjects:
Adult
Age
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive ability
Cognitive Dysfunction - etiology
Disability Evaluation
Employment
Female
Humans
Ireland
Male
Memory
Middle Aged
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple Sclerosis - complications
Multiple Sclerosis - psychology
Neuropsychological Tests
Patients
Quality of Life
Studies
Surveys and Questionnaires
NEUROLOGY
ISSN:0032-5473, 1469-0756, 1469-0756
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:ObjectivesTo explore the relationship between cognitive impairment and conventional measures of disability in multiple sclerosis (MS), quality of life (QOL) and employment status using the brief international cognitive assessment for multiple sclerosis (BICAMS) in the routine outpatient clinic.Methods62 patients with MS were assessed on the BICAMS test battery for cognitive impairment. Data were obtained on employment status and a number of questionnaires completed including fatigue severity score, multiple sclerosis neuropsychological questionnaire, hospital anxiety and depression scale, the functional assessment of multiple sclerosis (FAMS) as well as on the EuroQOL five dimension questionnaire (EQ-5D). Other assessments include the patient activation measure and unidimensional self-efficacy scale for multiple sclerosis.ResultsCognitive assessment revealed 44 subjects (65%) had evidence of cognitive impairment on formal testing. In comparison with patients without evidence of cognitive impairment, cognitively impaired patients exhibited significantly higher rates of unemployment (p=0.009). The symbol digits modalities test was the most significant predictor of unemployment. Cognitive impairment was associated with lower QOL scores on the FAMS (p=0.001) and EQ-5D (p<0.001).ConclusionsBICAMS provides a sensitive and easy to administer screening test for cognitive impairment within the outpatient setting. Cognitive impairment is common in our cohort of patients with MS attending outpatients and appears to be associated with increased rates of unemployment and lower measures of QOL.
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ISSN:0032-5473
1469-0756
1469-0756
DOI:10.1136/postgradmedj-2016-134071