Research: fatigue, emotional problems in young MSers

#MSBlog: Childhood MS causes similar problem to adult-onset disease!

EpubHolland AA, Graves D, Greenberg BM, Harder LL. Fatigue, emotional functioning, and executive dysfunction in pediatric multiple sclerosis. Child Neuropsychol. 2012 Dec.

Objective: Fatigue, depression, anxiety, and executive dysfunction are associated with MS in adults. Existing research suggests similar problems in pediatric MS, but relationships between these variables have not been investigated. This study investigates the associations between executive functioning and fatigue, emotional functioning, age of onset, and disease duration in pediatric MS.

Methods: Twenty-six MSers or CISers, ages 7 to 18, were evaluated through a multidisciplinary demyelinating diseases clinic. Participants completed neuropsychological screening including Verbal Fluency, Digit Span, and Trail-Making Test. Parents completed rating forms of behavioral, emotional, and executive functioning. MSers and parents completed questionnaires related to the MSers' quality of life and fatigue. Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated to investigate relationships between fatigue, emotional functioning, and executive functioning, as well as to examine correlations between parent and child reports of fatigue.

Results: Rates of parent-reported anxiety, depression, fatigue, and executive dysfunction varied widely. Means were below average on the Trail-Making Test and average on Verbal Fluency and Digit Span, though scores varied widely. Various fatigue and emotional functioning indices-but not age of onset or disease duration-significantly correlated with various performance-based measures of executive functioning.

Conclusion: Results indicate pediatric MS is associated with fatigue, emotional difficulties, and executive dysfunction, the latter of which is associated with the two former. Notably, age of onset and disease duration did not significantly correlate with executive functioning. Results advance understanding of psychological and clinical variables related to neurocognitive outcomes in pediatric MS.



"These results are not surprising. MS is a disease of the brain, whether or not you are an adult or a child. Time to get on top of the issue?"

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