Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients are impaired in motor and cognitive performance, but the extent to which these deficits are magnified by aging is unknown. In one prior study, differences in cognitive processing speed between MS patients and healthy individuals were of similar magnitude across the lifespan. Here, we have improved on this work by expanding assessment to multiple cognitive domains and motor functioning. Objective: To determine whether the degree of cognitive and motor dysfunction in MS is magnified with increasing age. Methods: In all, 698 MS patients (aged 29–71 years) and 226 healthy controls (HCs; aged 18–72 years) completed neuroperformance tests covering ambulation, upper extremity function, information processing speed, and memory. Results: Linear regression models predicting cognitive and motor function revealed main effects of MS/HC diagnosis, age, and education across all measures. There was also an interaction between age and diagnosis on measures of motor function, but not on cognitive outcomes. Conclusion: The progression of motor decline is amplified by aging in MS. However, the degree of cognitive impairment does not vary across the lifespan. Thus, evidence of accelerated cognitive impairment in older adults with MS may signal the presence of other age-related cognitive pathologies.

Objective: To investigate the reliability and validity of a Brazilian-Portuguese adaptation of the Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS). Method: A Brazilian sample of 58 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and 58 healthy controls (HC) were administered the Brazilian-Portuguese BICAMS test battery, comprising the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), California Verbal Learning Test Second Edition (CVLT2), and the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test Revised (BVMTR). Mean differences between groups on BICAMS tests were assessed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), controlling for age, gender, education, anxiety, and depression. Test–retest data were obtained from 49 of the MS patients, two weeks after the initial assessment. Results: The MS patient group scored significantly lower on all BICAMS tests (CVLT2 F_1,110 = 28.99, p < .001; BVMTR F_1,110 = 7.77, p < .01; SDMT F_1,110 = 21.09, p < .001). Mixed-factor ANCOVAs tested differences in learning curves across trials for CVLT2 and BVMTR. HCs had significantly steeper learning curves on both CVLT2 (F_1,111 = 10.82, p < .01) and BVMTR (F_1,110 = 7.816, p < .01). These findings support diagnostic validity of the Brazilian-Portuguese adaptation. Test–retest reliability was satisfactory for SDMT, CVLT2, and BVMTR (.86, .84, and .77, respectively). Conclusion: The results suggest that this Brazilian version of the BICAMS will be a valid and reliable measure once complete normative data become available.

Background: Cognitive and motor abilities in multiple sclerosis (MS) are typically quantified using reliable, consensus standard tests validated in the MS population. While these performance measures are associated with vocational disability in parametric analyses, translation of raw scores into anchors reflecting clinically relevant, functional impairment requires further research. Objective: To examine performance-based motor and cognitive outcomes among definitive anchors that designate varying degrees of functional impairment, thereby establishing benchmarks for score interpretation. Methods: We evaluated MS patients and healthy controls, all undergoing a brief test battery. Outcomes were derived from the MS Functional Composite (MSFC) and the Brief International Cognitive Assessment for MS (BICAMS). Functional impairment anchors were (1) disability benefits, (2) employed with negative work events, and (3) employed without problems. Results: All measures yielded statistically significant differences across all levels of work status, after accounting for the effects of age and education. Benchmark values distinguished the functional impairment groups. When evaluated in combination, the Timed 25-Foot Walk and the Symbol Digit Modalities Test were the most robust predictors of functional decline. Conclusion: We have established benchmark scores for popular motor and cognitive tests that are associated with specific degrees of impairment in work status.

To test reciprocal associations among internalizing symptoms (depression and social anxiety), using alcohol and cannabis to cope, and use-related problems. The study utilized a community sample (N = 387, 55% female; majority non-Hispanic Caucasian (83.1%) or African American (9.1%) and a longitudinal design that spanned 17 to 20 years of age, and distinguished within- and between-person associations using latent curve models with structured residuals. Reciprocal prospective within-person associations were supported for alcohol, such that elevated depression symptoms were associated with increased alcohol coping motivates 1 year later, which, in turn, was associated with subsequent increased depression symptoms. Bidirectional associations were not supported for social anxiety, although high levels of social anxiety were associated with elevated levels of coping drinking 1 year later. Cannabis coping motives were associated with exacerbation of depression, but not social anxiety symptoms, 1 year later. Between- and within-person contemporaneous associations suggested that depression and social anxiety were more strongly associated with coping than social/enhancement motives, and that coping motives were associated with use-related problems. Findings suggest that alcohol coping motivates exacerbate rather than ameliorate depression symptoms, which, in turn, leads to greater reliance on alcohol to cope. There was more consistent support for associations with substance use-related problems for depression than for social anxiety. Both between- and within-person associations may be useful for identifying targets and timing of coping-oriented interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).