INS NYC 2024 Program

Poster	Poster Session 09 Program Schedule 02/16/2024 03:30 pm - 04:45 pm Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120) Poster Session 09: Epilepsy \| Oncology \| MS \| Infectious Disease Final Abstract #73 Convergence Insufficiency and Cognitive Abilities in Multiple Sclerosis: A Pilot Study Diana Maloku, Kessler Foundation, East Hanover, United States Caroline Armknecht, Kessler Foundation, East Hanover, United States Tien Tong, Kessler Foundation, East Hanover, United States Silvana Costa, Kessler Foundation, East Hanover, United States Category: Multiple Sclerosis/ALS/Demyelinating Disorders Keyword 1: multiple sclerosis Keyword 2: self-report Keyword 3: cognitive functioning Objective: Visual impairment symptoms are common among people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS), appearing both at the onset and throughout the disease course. Gil-Casas and colleagues recently demonstrated that, in a group of pwMS, there was no agreement between self-report symptoms and objective measures of convergence ability. The authors hypothesized that such a discrepancy could be associated with the impact of cognitive impairments. We aim to examine the relation between cognitive abilities and self-report symptoms of convergence insufficiency (CI) in pwMS. Participants and Methods: Participants were 41 adults (21 pwMS and 20 healthy controls (HC)). The average age was 49.8 years (SD = 9.8), and average education was 15.2 years (SD = 1.8). MS diagnosis was confirmed by medical record review, and a 94% had relapsing remitting MS. Self-report symptoms of CI were assessed with the Convergence Insufficiency Symptoms Survey (CISS) and cognitive abilities were assessed with the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), Selective Reminding Test (SRT), Digit Span (DS), Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT), Symbol Search (SS), and Letter Comparison (LC). Additionally, all participants completed the Modified Fatigue Inventory Scale (MFIS), State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and Chicago Multiscale Depression Inventory (CDMI). The CISS is frequently used in vision research to measure the subjective symptoms associated with CI with a score of > 16 suggestive of CI. The CISS includes 9 items assessing vision-related symptoms (CISS-V) and 5 that could have a cognitive influence (CISS-C). Objective convergence ability was assessed with the Near Point of Convergence Test (NPC), a value of ≥ 10 is considered impaired CI. Independent sample t tests were conducted to examine differences between the HC and pwMS groups. Pearson correlation analyses were performed to examine the relationship between CISS scores and cognitive abilities, self-report levels of depression, anxiety, and fatigue. Results: Nine out of the twenty-one pwMS had a CISS score suggestive of CI, however, only 2 pwMS showed impaired CI as measured with the NPC test. Significant differences were noted between pwMS and HC for total CISS (p<.001), CISS-V (p=.001), and CISS-C (p=.001), but not for NPC (p=.121). Higher levels of self-reported CI were correlated with overall poorer cognitive abilities (SDMT p= .025, SRT p= .016, DS p=.001, PASAT p= .027, SS p=.011, LC p=.003) and higher levels of self-report depression symptomatology (CMDI <.001), anxiety (STAI trait total p=.01) and fatigue (MFIS p<.001). No significant correlations were found between NPC and cognitive abilities, self-report symptomatology of depression, anxiety, or fatigue. Conclusions: Consistent with prior results, pwMS reported higher levels of CI symptomatology on both visual-related and cognitive influenced subscales, however, the two groups showed similar performance on an objective measure of convergence ability. Higher self-reported levels of CI were found to be correlated with poorer cognitive abilities, as well as higher levels of self-report depression and anxiety symptomatology, and fatigue. Future studies should examine the impact of cognitive abilities and emotional status on self-reported measures of visual ability.

Poster

02/16/2024
03:30 pm - 04:45 pm
Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120)

Poster Session 09: Epilepsy | Oncology | MS | Infectious Disease

Final Abstract #73

Convergence Insufficiency and Cognitive Abilities in Multiple Sclerosis: A Pilot Study

Diana Maloku, Kessler Foundation, East Hanover, United States
Caroline Armknecht, Kessler Foundation, East Hanover, United States
Tien Tong, Kessler Foundation, East Hanover, United States
Silvana Costa, Kessler Foundation, East Hanover, United States

Category: Multiple Sclerosis/ALS/Demyelinating Disorders

Keyword 1: multiple sclerosis
Keyword 2: self-report
Keyword 3: cognitive functioning

Objective:

Visual impairment symptoms are common among people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS), appearing both at the onset and throughout the disease course. Gil-Casas and colleagues recently demonstrated that, in a group of pwMS, there was no agreement between self-report symptoms and objective measures of convergence ability. The authors hypothesized that such a discrepancy could be associated with the impact of cognitive impairments. We aim to examine the relation between cognitive abilities and self-report symptoms of convergence insufficiency (CI) in pwMS.

Participants and Methods:

Participants were 41 adults (21 pwMS and 20 healthy controls (HC)). The average age was 49.8 years (SD = 9.8), and average education was 15.2 years (SD = 1.8). MS diagnosis was confirmed by medical record review, and a 94% had relapsing remitting MS. Self-report symptoms of CI were assessed with the Convergence Insufficiency Symptoms Survey (CISS) and cognitive abilities were assessed with the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), Selective Reminding Test (SRT), Digit Span (DS), Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT), Symbol Search (SS), and Letter Comparison (LC). Additionally, all participants completed the Modified Fatigue Inventory Scale (MFIS), State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and Chicago Multiscale Depression Inventory (CDMI). The CISS is frequently used in vision research to measure the subjective symptoms associated with CI with a score of > 16 suggestive of CI. The CISS includes 9 items assessing vision-related symptoms (CISS-V) and 5 that could have a cognitive influence (CISS-C). Objective convergence ability was assessed with the Near Point of Convergence Test (NPC), a value of ≥ 10 is considered impaired CI. Independent sample t tests were conducted to examine differences between the HC and pwMS groups. Pearson correlation analyses were performed to examine the relationship between CISS scores and cognitive abilities, self-report levels of depression, anxiety, and fatigue.

Results:

Nine out of the twenty-one pwMS had a CISS score suggestive of CI, however, only 2 pwMS showed impaired CI as measured with the NPC test. Significant differences were noted between pwMS and HC for total CISS (p<.001), CISS-V (p=.001), and CISS-C (p=.001), but not for NPC (p=.121). Higher levels of self-reported CI were correlated with overall poorer cognitive abilities (SDMT p= .025, SRT p= .016, DS p=.001, PASAT p= .027, SS p=.011, LC p=.003) and higher levels of self-report depression symptomatology (CMDI <.001), anxiety (STAI trait total p=.01) and fatigue (MFIS p<.001). No significant correlations were found between NPC and cognitive abilities, self-report symptomatology of depression, anxiety, or fatigue.

Conclusions:

Consistent with prior results, pwMS reported higher levels of CI symptomatology on both visual-related and cognitive influenced subscales, however, the two groups showed similar performance on an objective measure of convergence ability. Higher self-reported levels of CI were found to be correlated with poorer cognitive abilities, as well as higher levels of self-report depression and anxiety symptomatology, and fatigue. Future studies should examine the impact of cognitive abilities and emotional status on self-reported measures of visual ability.