TY - JOUR
T1 - Altered social cognition in early relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis
AU - Oliveira, Renato
AU - de Pinho, Gonçalo Diniz
AU - Silva, Dina
AU - Chester, Catarina
AU - Marques, Inês Brás
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by Bolsas Luz Saúde .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2023/10
Y1 - 2023/10
N2 - Introduction: People with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) may suffer from some degree of impaired social cognition (SC), the process that integrates the mental operations underlying social interactions. SC is still not clearly characterized in the early stages of MS, and it is not defined whether SC is independent of cognitive impairment. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to compare SC measures in a population of early (≤5 years) relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) with an age, sex, and education-matched control group. All participants performed a clinical and a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment. SC evaluation included assessment of facial emotion recognitionn by the Emotion Recognition Task, affective theory of mind (ToM) by the Reading the Mind in the eyes Test (RMET) and cognitive ToM by the Faux Pas test (FPT). Depression, anxiety, fatigue, and quality of life were also assessed. We included 38 pwMS (mean age 34.8 ± 8.7, 78.9% female sex, mean disease duration 1.9±1.3 years) and 38 healthy controls (mean age 34.9 ± 8.4, 81.6% female sex). Results: Altered social cognition was present in 34.2% of pwMS. Participants with MS performed worse than controls on measures of cognitive ToM, and affective ToM. There were no differences regarding FER. Cognitive ToM and FER correlated with cognitive functions, but no correlation was found between affective ToM and cognitive tests. The only clinical factor associated with altered SC was poor quality of life. Conclusions: Social cognition impairment is already present in a significant percentage of early RRMS patients, namely ToM deficits. While cognitive ToM and FER appears to correlate with impaired cognitive results, affective ToM is likely independent of other cognitive functions.
AB - Introduction: People with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) may suffer from some degree of impaired social cognition (SC), the process that integrates the mental operations underlying social interactions. SC is still not clearly characterized in the early stages of MS, and it is not defined whether SC is independent of cognitive impairment. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to compare SC measures in a population of early (≤5 years) relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) with an age, sex, and education-matched control group. All participants performed a clinical and a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment. SC evaluation included assessment of facial emotion recognitionn by the Emotion Recognition Task, affective theory of mind (ToM) by the Reading the Mind in the eyes Test (RMET) and cognitive ToM by the Faux Pas test (FPT). Depression, anxiety, fatigue, and quality of life were also assessed. We included 38 pwMS (mean age 34.8 ± 8.7, 78.9% female sex, mean disease duration 1.9±1.3 years) and 38 healthy controls (mean age 34.9 ± 8.4, 81.6% female sex). Results: Altered social cognition was present in 34.2% of pwMS. Participants with MS performed worse than controls on measures of cognitive ToM, and affective ToM. There were no differences regarding FER. Cognitive ToM and FER correlated with cognitive functions, but no correlation was found between affective ToM and cognitive tests. The only clinical factor associated with altered SC was poor quality of life. Conclusions: Social cognition impairment is already present in a significant percentage of early RRMS patients, namely ToM deficits. While cognitive ToM and FER appears to correlate with impaired cognitive results, affective ToM is likely independent of other cognitive functions.
KW - Cognition
KW - Emotion recognition
KW - Empathy
KW - Multiple sclerosis
KW - Social cognition
KW - Theory of mind
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85167463167&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.msard.2023.104924
DO - 10.1016/j.msard.2023.104924
M3 - Article
C2 - 37566975
AN - SCOPUS:85167463167
SN - 2211-0348
VL - 78
JO - Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders
JF - Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders
M1 - 104924
ER -