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Retinal measures correlate with cognitive and physical disability in early multiple sclerosis

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Abstract

Further studies are needed to determine the role of retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT) in non-optic neuritis (ON) eyes of patients with early MS. The objective of this study is to explore the relationship between retinal layers’ thickness and cognitive as well as physical disability in patients with the early RRMS. Participants in this cross-sectional study were adults with early RRMS, stable on interferon beta-1a, or fingolimod therapy, and without a history of ON in one or both eyes. Patients were evaluated clinically, underwent a battery of cognitive tests, and a retinal OCT scan which was also performed on a group of healthy age- and gender-matched controls. We studied 47 patients with RRMS, on interferon beta-1a (N = 32) or fingolimod (N = 15), and 18 healthy controls. Multivariate analyses controlling for age, disease duration, treatment, and education when exploring cognitive function, showed that pRNFL thickness correlated negatively with 9HPT (standardized Beta −0.4, p < 0.0001), and positively with SDMT (standardized Beta 0.72, p = 0.007). In patients with early RRMS without optic neuropathy, retinal thickness measures correlated with physical disability and cognitive disability, supporting their potential as biomarkers of axonal loss.

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Acknowledgments

Mr. Anthony Msan edited the manuscript for non-intellectual content. Mrs. Lina Malaeb supervised the execution of the study.

Funding

This study was supported by an unrestricted grant from Novartis pharmaceuticals, which did not have any role in the study design, recruitment, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or manuscript preparation and submission.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nehme and Therese Tohme Multiple Sclerosis Center, American University of Beirut and Medical Center, Riad El Solh, Beirut, 1107 2020, Lebanon

    Nabil K. El Ayoubi, Stephanie Ghassan, Marianne Said, Hala Darwish & Samia J. Khoury

  2. Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

    Joelle Allam

  3. Faculty of Medicine, Hariri School of Nursing, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

    Hala Darwish

  4. Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

    Samia J. Khoury

Authors
  1. Nabil K. El Ayoubi
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  2. Stephanie Ghassan
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  3. Marianne Said
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  4. Joelle Allam
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  5. Hala Darwish
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  6. Samia J. Khoury
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Samia J. Khoury.

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On behalf of all authors and contributors, this is to acknowledge that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical standard

This study have been approved by the appropriate ethics committee and has been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.

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All persons gave their informed consent prior to their inclusion in the study.

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El Ayoubi, N.K., Ghassan, S., Said, M. et al. Retinal measures correlate with cognitive and physical disability in early multiple sclerosis. J Neurol 263, 2287–2295 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-016-8271-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-016-8271-4

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