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Slowing processing speed is associated with cognitive fatigue in newly diagnosed multiple sclerosis patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2022

Marco Pitteri Open the ORCID record for Marco Pitteri [Opens in a new window] ,
Caterina Dapor ,
John DeLuca Open the ORCID record for John DeLuca [Opens in a new window] ,
Nancy D. Chiaravalloti ,
Damiano Marastoni  and
Massimiliano Calabrese
Marco Pitteri*
Affiliation:
Neurology Section, Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
Caterina Dapor
Affiliation:
Neurology Section, Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
John DeLuca
Affiliation:
Kessler Foundation, West Orange, NJ, USA Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Rutgers, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA Department of Neurology, Rutgers, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA
Nancy D. Chiaravalloti
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Rutgers, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA Neuropsychology and Neuroscience Lab, Kessler Foundation, East Hanover, NJ, USA
Damiano Marastoni
Affiliation:
Neurology Section, Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
Massimiliano Calabrese*
Affiliation:
Neurology Section, Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
*
Corresponding authors: Marco Pitteri, email: marco.pitteri@nhs.net; Massimiliano Calabrese, email: massimiliano.calabrese@univr.it
Corresponding authors: Marco Pitteri, email: marco.pitteri@nhs.net; Massimiliano Calabrese, email: massimiliano.calabrese@univr.it
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Abstract

Objective:

To further investigate objective measures of cognitive fatigue (CF), defined as the inability to sustain performance over time, in newly diagnosed multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, by conducting a performance analysis on the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) based on the type of errors (omissions vs. incorrect responses) committed.

Method:

Sixty-two newly diagnosed patients with MS (pwMS) and 41 healthy controls (HC) completed the PASAT. Analysis of the change in performance during the test was performed by comparing the number of correct responses, incorrect responses, and omissions in the 1st versus the 3rd tertile of the PASAT.

Results:

A significant decline in accuracy over time was observed to be related to an increment in the number of omissions, significantly more pronounced in pwMS than in HC. No change in the number of incorrect responses throughout the PASAT was observed for either group.

Conclusions:

CF can be detected even in newly diagnosed pwMS and might objectively manifest as a progressive increase in omissions during a sustained highly demanding task (i.e., PASAT). This pattern may reflect slowed processing speed and increased fatigue in pwMS. Focusing on omissions on the PASAT instead of correct responses only may improve its specificity as an objective measure of CF.

Keywords

multiple sclerosisfatiguecognitionprocessing speedPASATSDMT
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 29 , Issue 3 , March 2023 , pp. 283 - 289
Copyright
Copyright © INS. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2022

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Footnotes

Marco Pitteri and Caterina Dapor equally contributed to the present work

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