Impaired social cognition in multiple sclerosis

TY - JOUR

T1 - Impaired social cognition in multiple sclerosis

AU - Pöttgen, Jana

AU - Dziobek, Isabel

AU - Reh, Susan

AU - Heesen, Christoph

AU - Gold, Stefan M

PY - 2013/5/1

Y1 - 2013/5/1

N2 - BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory and neurodegenerative disorder of the CNS that is frequently associated with neuropsychiatric symptoms and decreased quality of life. Social support, which has been found to buffer the psychosocial burden of MS, critically depends on intact social cognition. Here we assess social cognition in patients with MS using a naturalistic video based test and explore if potential deficits in theory of mind (ToM) occur independently of known MS associated neuropsychiatric symptoms, such as depression and cognitive impairment.METHODS: 45 outpatients with clinically definite MS and 45 age, sex and education matched healthy control subjects (HCs) underwent standardised testing using the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition. MS patients also completed a neuropsychological battery.RESULTS: MS patients showed significantly impaired ToM compared with HCs. Impairments were more pronounced in identification of emotions than in identification of thoughts or intentions. Significantly lower ToM compared with HCs was detected in MS patients during the early disease stages, with limited disability and without substantial neuropsychological deficits.CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest impaired social cognition in MS. Importantly, ToM impairments in this group may not simply be a consequence of the well known neuropsychological deficits. Difficulties with correctly identifying emotions, thoughts and intentions in social situations may result in interpersonal problems and could contribute to the psychosocial burden of MS.

AB - BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory and neurodegenerative disorder of the CNS that is frequently associated with neuropsychiatric symptoms and decreased quality of life. Social support, which has been found to buffer the psychosocial burden of MS, critically depends on intact social cognition. Here we assess social cognition in patients with MS using a naturalistic video based test and explore if potential deficits in theory of mind (ToM) occur independently of known MS associated neuropsychiatric symptoms, such as depression and cognitive impairment.METHODS: 45 outpatients with clinically definite MS and 45 age, sex and education matched healthy control subjects (HCs) underwent standardised testing using the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition. MS patients also completed a neuropsychological battery.RESULTS: MS patients showed significantly impaired ToM compared with HCs. Impairments were more pronounced in identification of emotions than in identification of thoughts or intentions. Significantly lower ToM compared with HCs was detected in MS patients during the early disease stages, with limited disability and without substantial neuropsychological deficits.CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest impaired social cognition in MS. Importantly, ToM impairments in this group may not simply be a consequence of the well known neuropsychological deficits. Difficulties with correctly identifying emotions, thoughts and intentions in social situations may result in interpersonal problems and could contribute to the psychosocial burden of MS.

KW - Adolescent

KW - Adult

KW - Aged

KW - Anxiety

KW - Cognition Disorders

KW - Depression

KW - Disability Evaluation

KW - Executive Function

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Intelligence Tests

KW - Male

KW - Middle Aged

KW - Multiple Sclerosis

KW - Neuropsychological Tests

KW - Psychomotor Performance

KW - Social Behavior

KW - Theory of Mind

KW - Verbal Learning

KW - Video Recording

KW - Young Adult

U2 - 10.1136/jnnp-2012-304157

DO - 10.1136/jnnp-2012-304157

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 23315621

VL - 84

SP - 523

EP - 528

JO - J NEUROL NEUROSUR PS

JF - J NEUROL NEUROSUR PS

SN - 0022-3050

IS - 5

ER -