Hostname: page-component-76d6cb85b7-rxvq6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-07-18T02:17:44.979Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Negative affect predicts subsequent cognitive change in multiple sclerosis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2009

CHRISTOPHER CHRISTODOULOU*
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York
PATRICIA MELVILLE
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York
WILLIAM F. SCHERL
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York
WILLIAM S. MACALLISTER
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, Department of Neurology, New York University, New York, New York
REBECCA L. ABENSUR
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York
REGINA M. TROXELL
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York
LAUREN B. KRUPP
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York
*
*Correspondence and reprint requests to: Christopher Christodoulou, Department of Neurology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, HSC T12-028, Stony Brook, New York 11794-8121. E-mail: christopher.christodoulou@stonybrook.edu.

Abstract

Baseline predictors of cognitive change were explored in a sample of persons with multiple sclerosis (MS). Potential predictors included demographic features, baseline clinical characteristics, and psychological state. Participants were 38 individuals diagnosed with either relapsing remitting or secondary progressive MS who did not meet criteria for a current major depressive episode. Subjects were tested at baseline and approximately 1 year in an ongoing longitudinal study of cognition in MS. Participants completed neuropsychological tests sensitive to impairment in MS. They also completed self-report measures of depression, anxiety, fatigue, apathy, and positive and negative affect. Baseline measures of negative affect (e.g., depressed mood, state anxiety, and negative affective state) consistently predicted cognitive change over the course of the study. Higher baseline levels of negative affect were associated with greater relative declines in cognitive performance. This longitudinal relation occurred in the absence of a cross-sectional relation between negative affect and overall cognition. High baseline negative affect particularly predicted a relative decline in episodic memory for newly learned verbal and visuospatial information. The negative affect measures were unique in their predictive value among all the baseline measures assessed. (JINS, 2009, 15, 53–61.)

Information

Type
Research Articles
Copyright
Copyright © INS 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable