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Introduction: Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibodies are identified in approximately 30-50% of youth with pediatric-onset acquired demyelinating syndromes. Little is known about the cognitive sequelae of relapsing myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD) with onset in childhood or adolescence.Overall, adults had 41% more risk than children to relapse over the whole disease course Overall, adults had 41% more risk than children to relapse over the whole disease course OBJECTIVE: To compare cognitive performance in participants with pediatric-onset relapsing MOGAD, pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (POMS), and age-matched healthy controls., Methods: The Penn Computerized Neurocognitive Battery (PCNB) was administered to 12 individuals with relapsing MOGAD (age = 16.3 ± 4.8 years; 75% female; disease duration = 8.1 ± 2.7 years), 68 individuals with POMS (age = 18.3 ± 4.0 years; 72% female; disease duration = 3.8 ± 3.9 years), and 108 healthy controls (age = 17.0 ± 4.9 years; 68.5% female). Accuracy was assessed on four domains: Executive Function, Episodic Memory, Complex Cognition, Social Cognition; and overall response time (RT) and RT across three factors (i.e., Time Constrained, Open-Window, Memory). Global performance was determined by a composite score. Multiple linear regression was used to examine group differences on PCNB domain and factor z-scores, controlling for age and sex. We also covaried disease duration for relapsing MOGAD vs. POMS analyses., Results: Relative to healthy controls, relapsing MOGAD participants were less accurate on the Complex Cognition domain (B=-0.28, SE=0.11, p=.02), and had slower overall response time (B=-0.16, SE=0.07, p=.02). Relative to POMS, relapsing MOGAD participants were more accurate on the Executive Function domain (B = 0.70, SE=0.30, p=.02) and on the battery overall (B = 0.41, SE=0.18, p=.02). Relative to controls, overall PCNB score was significantly lower in the POMS group (B=-0.28, SE=0.06, p<.001) whereas the relapsing MOGAD participants did not differ from controls (p=.06) on the overall PCNB score., Conclusions: The relapsing MOGAD group demonstrated reduced reasoning skills and slower overall response time, relative to controls. A broad pattern of deficits was observed among POMS participants relative to controls. Overall, cognitive difficulties in the MOGAD group were milder relative to the POMS group., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Objective: We evaluated performance on the Penn Computerized Neurocognitive Battery (PCNB), a tool assessing accuracy and response time across four cognitive domains, alongside the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), a measure of processing speed commonly used in MS. We determined whether performance decrements are more likely to be detected on measures of accuracy versus response time in pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (POMS)., Methods: Performance on the SDMT, accuracy on PCNB tests belonging to four domains (executive function, episodic memory, complex cognition, social cognition), and response time on the PCNB were compared for 65 POMS patients (age range: 8-29 years) and 76 healthy controls (HCs) by ANCOVA. Associations between the Overall PCNB score and SDMT were examined for both groups, and their agreement in classifying impairment was assessed using Cohen's kappa., Results: POMS patients (age at testing = 18.3 ± 4.0 years; age at POMS onset = 14.9 ± 2.3 years) demonstrated reduced accuracy relative to HCs on tests of working memory, attention/inhibition, verbal memory, and visuospatial processing, after adjusting for response time (p ≤ .002). Patients demonstrated slower overall response time on the PCNB (p = .003), while group differences on the SDMT did not meet significance (p = .03). Performance on the PCNB and SDMT were correlated (MS: r = 0.43, HC: r = 0.50, both p < .001), however, the degree of agreement for impairment was minimal (k = 0.22, p = .14)., Conclusion: Specific cognitive deficits exist independently of slowed information processing speed in POMS, and may represent more significant areas of dysfunction. Delineation of accuracy and response time in neuropsychological assessment is important to identify areas of cognitive deficit in POMS. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Brain MRI measures were correlated with neuropsychological function in 35 pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and 33 age- and sex-matched healthy controls., Method: Mean age of MS patients was 16.3 ± 2.3 years with average disease duration of 4.3 ± 3.1 years. Cortical gray matter, thalamic, and global brain volumes were calculated for all participants using a scaling factor computed using normalization of atrophy method to normalize total and regional brain volumes for head size. T1- and T2-weighted lesion volumes were calculated for MS patients., Results: Cognitive impairment (CI) was identified in 29% of the MS cohort. Cognitive deficits predominantly involved attention and processing speed, expressive language, and visuomotor integration. Relative to controls, the MS group showed significantly lower thalamic volume (p < .001), total brain volume (p < .008), and gray matter volume (p < .015). Corpus callosum area and thalamic volume differentiated patients identified as having CI from those without CI (p < .05). Regression models controlling for disease duration and age indicated that thalamic volume accounted for significant incremental variance in predicting global IQ, processing speed, and expressive vocabulary (ΔR2 ranging from .43 to .60) and was the most robust MRI predictor of cognition relative to other MRI metrics., Conclusions: The robust association between cognitive function and reduced size of thalamus and global brain volume in pediatric-onset MS patients implicate neurodegenerative processes early in the disease course, and suggest that plasticity of an immature central nervous system is not sufficient to protect patients from the deleterious consequences of MS on cognitive neural networks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved).

Cognitive dysfunction has been demonstrated in multiple sclerosis but has not been extensively studied after acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM). Because ADEM often presents with widespread demyelination, which may not completely resolve, these patients may be at risk for persistent cognitive dysfunction. The study objective was to explore the profile and severity of neurocognitive sequelae in pediatric ADEM. Children aged 6-15 years diagnosed with ADEM were invited to participate in a structured neurologic assessment, neuropsychological evaluation, and a follow-up magnetic resonance imaging. Nine of 15 children diagnosed with ADEM met the age criteria and six participated in the study. The mean age at presentation was 7.7 years; the mean duration of follow-up was 3.5 years. As a group, these children with prior ADEM performed within the average range on cognitive testing. However, a variety of mild cognitive deficits were demonstrated in each of the children, even in those whose magnetic resonance imaging studies had completely normalized. Four children demonstrated a cognitive profile of relatively poorer visuospatial/visuomotor function. The cognitive deficits observed in these children are similar but less severe than those previously reported in adults and children with multiple sclerosis, which may reflect the monophasic nature of ADEM, compared with the chronic, recurrent demyelination characteristic of multiple sclerosis.