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INTRODUCTION
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CONCLUSION
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Running head: THE COGNITIVE EFFECTS OF MS

The Cognitive Effects of Multiple Sclerosis
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The Cognitive Effects of Multiple Sclerosis
Specific Aims
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a fascinating disorder as most scholars and researchers do not
agree on its root cause. Like any other, MS portrays several impacts and its patients face various
cognitive impairments as a result despite of their age, gender and the stage of the disease (Lublin
et al., 2014). The proposal will unfold some of the existing gaps in diagnosing and addressing
MS while explicating its cognitive impacts on the patients as indicated in specific peer-reviewed
literatures. The study is, therefore, concerned with revealing various cognitive effects resulting
from MS as well as the scholarly efforts on the same. Conversely, explaining the existing
challenges such as language barrier and robust tools for testing the cognitive dysfunction are key
in this proposal.
Through employing Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) various impacts of MS and
resulting cognitive dysfunctions shall all be precise to both health practitioners, patients and the
affected families. There is around 55% record of cognitive impairment on MS patients, which
confirms issues such anxiety, memory deficiencies and executive functionality. One thing to note
is the high rate of MS on females, which calls for a succinct concentration on the gender and its
statistics (Hanamsagar, & Bilbo, 2016). In the professional field, this proposal will be an eyeopener on the existing knowledge gaps such as understanding the reasons behind high cognitive
impairment in progressive MS patients. The study is to assess the cognitive effects of MS
disorders on patients, to establish cognitive impairment on MS patients and to evaluate how
practitioners respond to the disease globally and provide a solution on how to reach every culture
with an elaborate plan of action. In attaining this, the proposal will address every potential
barrier to improving people’s health.

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Background

In the past, there have been studies assessing the impacts of cognitive dysfunction on MS
and results are indicating a negative influence in the active lifestyle of patients diagnosed of the
same, and it does not matter the stage of the disease. There are reported cases of reduced human
activities in education, agility in processing information, brain logic or functionality, while
fatigue, depression, and anxiety remain some of the visible worsening conditions of patients in
this state (Marrie, Salter, Tyry, Fox, & Cutter, 2013).. In some specific cases, there are reports of
instability in verbal memory and reasoning; however, there are various reviewed works
determining multiple impacts of different cognitive impairment scenarios on MS patients as
indicated below depending the results from several scholars and researchers.
According to Baumstarck-Barrau et al., (2011), cognitive impairment is a real factor in
MS patients, and they go ahead to provide around 50% occurrence chance and are even active in
the early stages of the disorder. The study further suggests that there is a likelihood of reduced
efficiency in social and economic development due to prevalent influences of cognitive
dysfunction. An interest emerged to fill the gaps of past studies that were either inconsistent or
weak in examining the relationships between QoL and cognitive dysfunction in MS patients by
employing a cross-sectional design. There were two final reports; cognitive impairment had a
significant impact, as a symptom, in the early MS patients, but on the contrary, it had a weak
association with QoL alterations.
In their study, Deloire, Ruet, Hamel, Bonnet, and Brochet, (2010) had the intention of
correlating cognitive impairment and disability progression in seven years using a sample of
forty-five patients. They employed two measures to determine study outcome; annually
Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) and Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite. The

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sampled patients, on the other hand, were categorized into two groups, the cognitively impaired
and unimpaired. After the seven years of study, they drew a significant correlation between the
EDSS deterioration and verbal memory testing. Deloire et al., (2010), therefore, concluded that
verbal memory and baseline IPS deficiencies predict the EDSS outc...