title: Colour vision impairment is associated with disease severity in multiple sclerosis.
abstract: Colour vision assessment correlates with damage of the visual pathway and might be informative of overall brain damage in multiple sclerosis (MS).
  
  
  
  The objective of this paper is to investigate the association between impaired colour vision and disease severity.
  
  
  
  We performed neurological and ophthalmic examinations, as well as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) analyses, on 108 MS patients, both at baseline and after a follow-up of one year. Colour vision was evaluated by Hardy, Rand and Rittler plates. Dyschromatopsia was defined if colour vision was impaired in either eye, except for participants with optic neuritis (ON), for whom only the unaffected eye was considered. We used general linear models adjusted for sex, age, disease duration and MS treatment for comparing presence of dyschromatopsia and disease severity.
  
  
  
  Impaired colour vision in non-ON eyes was detected in 21 out of 108 patients at baseline. At baseline, patients with dyschromatopsia had lower Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite (MSFC) scores and Brief Repeatable Battery-Neuropsychology executive function scores than those participants with normal colour vision. In addition, these patients had thinner retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), and smaller macular volume, normalized brain volume and normalized gray matter volume (NGMV) at baseline. Moreover, participants with incident dyschromatopsia after one-year follow-up had a greater disability measured by the Expanded Disability Status Scale and MSFC-20 and a greater decrease in NGMV than participants with normal colour vision.
  
  
  
  Colour vision impairment is associated with greater MS severity.
authors.affiliation: Center of Neuroimmunology and Department of Neurology, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Elena H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Martínez-Lapiscina
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Institut D'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Santiago
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ortiz-Pérez
authors.affiliation: Center of Neuroimmunology and Department of Neurology, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fraga-Pumar
authors.affiliation: Center of Neuroimmunology and Department of Neurology, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Eloy
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Martínez-Heras
authors.affiliation: Center of Neuroimmunology and Department of Neurology, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Iñigo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gabilondo
authors.affiliation: Center of Neuroimmunology and Department of Neurology, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Llufriu
authors.affiliation: Center of Neuroimmunology and Department of Neurology, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Santiago
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bullich
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Institut D'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Figueras
authors.affiliation: Center of Neuroimmunology and Department of Neurology, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saiz
authors.affiliation: Center of Neuroimmunology and Department of Neurology, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain Department of Ophthalmology, Institut D'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Bernardo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Dalmau
authors.affiliation: Center of Neuroimmunology and Department of Neurology, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain pvilloslada@clinic.ub.es.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Villoslada
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D055253:Color Vision; D003117:Color Vision Defects / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D003941:Diagnostic Techniques, Ophthalmological; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020529:Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence
keywords: MRI; Multiple sclerosis; OCT; colour vision; disability; prognosis; retina