Cognitive impairment in patients with multiple sclerosis predicts worse caregiver's health-related quality of life.
BACKGROUND
Little information exists about how cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients impacts on their caregivers' health-related quality of life (HRQoL).


BACKGROUND
The objective of this paper is to examine the extent to which cognitive impairment in MS patients contributes to caregivers' HRQoL.


METHODS
A total of 63 MS patients, 63 caregivers and 59 matched controls were recruited. Patients and controls underwent a neuropsychological assessment, including tests of working memory, speed of information processing, executive function, and verbal fluency. HRQoL of the caregivers was assessed by CAREQOL-MS. In logistic regression models, we adjusted for the effects of confounding variables. In these models, the dependent variable was the CAREQOL-MS (higher median of CAREQOL-MS (worse HRQoL) vs. lower median of CAREQOL-MS (better HRQoL) (reference)), and the independent variable was the impairment on each neuropsychological test vs. its integrity (reference).


RESULTS
Cognitive impairment in MS patients was significantly associated with worse caregiver HRQoL (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 3.10, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.07-11.55, p = 0.04). In secondary analyses in which each neuropsychological test was entered in the analyses separately, only Symbol Digit Modalities Test (a measurement of information processing speed) impairment (OR = 4.22, 95%, CI = 1.16-14.53, p = 0.03) was significantly associated with worse caregiver HRQoL.


CONCLUSIONS
MS patients' caregivers' HRQoL is significantly influenced by information processing speed impairment of MS patients.
University Hospital "12 de Octubre", Spain.
Andrés
A
Labiano-Fontcuberta
Leicestershire Partnership Trust and University of Leicester, UK.
Alex J
AJ
Mitchell
University Hospital "12 de Octubre", Spain.
Sara
S
Moreno-García
University Hospital "12 de Octubre", Spain/Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Spain/Complutense University, Spain jbenitol67@gmail.com.
Julián
J
Benito-León
D000328:Adult; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000523:psychology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011788:Quality of Life
Caregiver; cognitive impairment; health-related quality of life; information processing speed; multiple sclerosis; neuropsychiatric; nonmotor features