The Relationship between Cognitive Deficits and Cognitive Complaints in People with Multiple Sclerosis and the role of Anxiety, Depression, and Fatigue

Hofstede, Sanne (2024) The Relationship between Cognitive Deficits and Cognitive Complaints in People with Multiple Sclerosis and the role of Anxiety, Depression, and Fatigue. Master thesis, Psychology.

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Abstract

Introduction: Cognitive impairments and cognitive complaints occur in people with Multiple Sclerosis (pwMS). However, they are not always related. Psychological factors, such as anxiety, depression, and fatigue seem to play a role in experiencing cognitive complaints. More research on this topic is needed because cognitive complaints with underlying psychological factors call for different care than actual cognitive disorders. Method: pwMS (n = 54) and healthy controls (n = 56) were included in the study. Groups were well matched for age, sex, and level of education. Assessment consisted of neuropsychological tests (Symbol Digit Modalities Test, Trail Making Test, 15 Word Test, Digit Span Taks, Letter Fluency Task) and questionnaires examining cognitive complaints (Groninger Cognitielijst), psychological factors (Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale), and fatigue (Dutch Multifactor Fatigue Scale). Results: PwMS showed significant cognitive deficits in information processing speed (SDMT: p = .002) and executive control (LFT: p <.001) compared to healthy controls but showed no significant deficits in memory, attention, and mental flexibility. Limited evidence was found for relations between cognitive deficits and cognitive complaints, except for information processing speed (r -.35). No relationship was found between cognitive deficits and psychological factors or fatigue. Except for one measure of information processing speed, which correlated with physical fatigue (r -.40). Cognitive complaints, however, did relate to anxiety (rs .40), depression (rs .52), and mental (r .63) and physical fatigue (r .45). Discussion: When cognitive deficits are present, like information processing speed, cognitive complaints do also seem to be present in pwMS. However, anxiety, depression, and fatigue may also underlie these complaints and call for different care than cognitive deficits. These results highlight the importance of not relying solely on self-reported cognitive complaints to measure cognitive deficits in pwMS. Keywords: multiple sclerosis, cognitive deficits, cognitive complaints, depression, anxiety, mental fatigue, physical fatigue

Item Type:	Thesis (Master)
Supervisor name:	Rakers, S.E.
Degree programme:	Psychology
Differentiation route:	Clinical Neuropsychology (CN) [Master Psychology]
Date Deposited:	17 Jul 2024 07:15
Last Modified:	17 Jul 2024 07:15
URI:	http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3941

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