Table 3.
Cognitive performance of the EwMS and HCs populations on the minimal assessment for cognitive function in multiple sclerosis (MACFIMS) battery.
| Cognitive test | EwMS (n = 104) | HCs (n = 56) | Cohen’s d | p-value | BH-adjusted p-value∗ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVLT-II total learning trials | 49.7 (12.5) | 54.9 (10.4) | 0.452 | 0.005 | 0.018 |
| CVLT-II short delay | 9.8 (4.1) | 11.2 (3.3) | 0.376 | 0.02 | 0.045 |
| CVLT-II long delay | 10.7 (3.9) | 11.9 (3.3) | 0.581 | 0.029 | 0.053 |
| CVLT-II recognition index | 2.9 (1.0) | 3.3 (0.7) | 0.463 | 0.111 | 0.167 |
| BVMT-R total learning trials | 19.9 (7.1) | 22.5 (5.6) | 0.407 | 0.018 | 0.05 |
| BVMT-R delay | 8.1 (2.7) | 8.5 (2.7) | 0.148 | 0.309 | 0.412 |
| BVMT-R recognition index | 5.5 (0.8) | 5.5 (0.9) | 0.0 | 0.634 | 0.667 |
| SDMT | 46.3 (10.8) | 55.4 (9.2) | 0.907 | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| PASAT-3 | 41.5 (13.2) | 45.8 (12.3) | 0.337 | 0.05 | 0.077 |
| D-KEFS sorting CSa | 9.0 (2.8) | 9.3 (2.2) | 0.119 | 0.579 | 0.644 |
| D-KEFS sorting DSa | 33.6 (10.8) | 34.9 (8.9) | 0.131 | 0.448 | 0.559 |
| BNT | 56.1 (3.8) | 56.9 (3.3) | 0.225 | 0.179 | 0.256 |
| Letter-based verbal fluency | 35.8 (11.2) | 43.0 (10.2) | 0.672 | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| Animal-based fluency | 17.3 (4.7) | 20.3 (4.3) | 0.666 | <0.001 | 0.001 |
| Supermarket items-based fluency | 20.9 (5.5) | 25.7 (5.9) | 0.842 | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| Total categorical fluency | 38.2 (8.8) | 45.9 (8.9) | 0.870 | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| Beery VMI | 23.2 (3.3) | 24.2 (2.6) | 0.337 | 0.03 | 0.05 |
| Clock drawing test | 8.9 (1.2) | 9.1 (1.2) | 0.167 | 0.505 | 0.594 |
| WMS-R logical memory IR | 23.7 (7.1) | 26.4 (6.4) | 0.399 | 0.018 | 0.045 |
| WMS-R logical memory DR | 18.8 (7.3) | 21.7 (8.1) | 0.376 | 0.024 | 0.048 |
| WMS-R logical memory MR | 78.1% (14.8%) | 79.3% (18.3%) | 0.072 | 0.641 | 0.641 |
EwMS, elderly persons with multiple sclerosis; HC, healthy controls; MACFIMS, Minimal Assessment of Cognitive Function in Multiple Sclerosis; CVLT-II, California Verbal Learning Test; BVMT-R, Brief Visuospatial Memory Test – Revised; SDMT, Symbol Digit Modalities Test; PASAT-3, 3 second Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test; D-KEFS, Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System; CS, number of correct sorts; DS, description score; BNT, Boston Naming Test; VMI, Visual-Motor Integration; WMS-R, Wechsler Memory Scale – Revised; IR, immediate recall; DR, delayed recall; MR, memory retention. All variables are shown as the mean (SD) raw scores. For all tests, higher scores relate to better cognitive performance. Letter-based and categorical verbal fluency were examined by Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT). Student’s t-test was used ∗Benjamini-Hochberg adjusted p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant and shown in bold. a77 out of 104 EwMS patients had available D-KEFS scores.