J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 1991; 3:28-32
Copyright © 1991 by American Neuropsychiatric Association
The interaction between depressive affective disorder and neuropsychological test performance in multiple sclerosis patients
RB Schiffer and ED Caine
Department of Neurology, Strong Memorial Hospital, Rochester, NY 14642, USA.
Cognitive impairment of mild-to-moderate severity is known to occur among a
large proportion of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Depressive
affective disturbances are also known to occur commonly among these
patients. In order to determine the degree of interaction between mood
disturbance and cognitive impairment, we conducted a test- retest
neuropsychological study of 11 MS patients with current major depression
diagnosed by Research Diagnostic Criteria. Patients were tested while
depressed and at another point while euthymic. Nine patients were assessed
first in a depressed state, followed by a reevaluation in the euthymic
state, and two were assessed first in the euthymic state. The mean time
interval between assessments was 7 months. When cognitive performance in
the depressed condition was compared with cognitive performance in the
euthymic condition, no significant differences were found. There was
evidence for a pattern of improvement in verbal memory tests that fell
short of statistical significance. Some language-related cognitive
functions actually deteriorated during the 6-month course of this study.
