Multiple sclerosis: Cognitive impairment worsens during the pre- and postrelapse period

Key clinical point: Cognitive impairments may be evaluated up to 30 days before and up to 550 days after a relapse, beyond which they revert to prerelapse levels in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS).

Major finding: From 30 days prerelapse to 550 days postrelapse, there was a significant drop in the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) score, with the largest decline occurring at 0-30 days postrelapse (β-coefficient, −4.00; 95% CI, −4.61 to −3.39) compared with the period of remission.

Study details: This nationwide cohort study recorded 31,529 SDMTs from among 3,877 patients with incident RRMS, each having a minimum of 2 SDMT scores recorded.

Disclosures: This study was funded by a postdoctoral fellowship award to KA McKay from the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life, and Welfare (Forte). The authors reported no conflict of interests.

Source: McKay KA et al. Ann Neurol. 2022 Jan 4. doi: 10.1002/ana.26301.

Key clinical point: Cognitive impairments may be evaluated up to 30 days before and up to 550 days after a relapse, beyond which they revert to prerelapse levels in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS).

Major finding: From 30 days prerelapse to 550 days postrelapse, there was a significant drop in the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) score, with the largest decline occurring at 0-30 days postrelapse (β-coefficient, −4.00; 95% CI, −4.61 to −3.39) compared with the period of remission.

Study details: This nationwide cohort study recorded 31,529 SDMTs from among 3,877 patients with incident RRMS, each having a minimum of 2 SDMT scores recorded.

Disclosures: This study was funded by a postdoctoral fellowship award to KA McKay from the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life, and Welfare (Forte). The authors reported no conflict of interests.

Source: McKay KA et al. Ann Neurol. 2022 Jan 4. doi: 10.1002/ana.26301.

Key clinical point: Cognitive impairments may be evaluated up to 30 days before and up to 550 days after a relapse, beyond which they revert to prerelapse levels in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS).

Major finding: From 30 days prerelapse to 550 days postrelapse, there was a significant drop in the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) score, with the largest decline occurring at 0-30 days postrelapse (β-coefficient, −4.00; 95% CI, −4.61 to −3.39) compared with the period of remission.

Study details: This nationwide cohort study recorded 31,529 SDMTs from among 3,877 patients with incident RRMS, each having a minimum of 2 SDMT scores recorded.

Disclosures: This study was funded by a postdoctoral fellowship award to KA McKay from the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life, and Welfare (Forte). The authors reported no conflict of interests.

Source: McKay KA et al. Ann Neurol. 2022 Jan 4. doi: 10.1002/ana.26301.