Similar autobiographical memory impairment in long-term secondary progressive multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease
Multiple Sclerosis Journal, 06/21/2012
Clinical Article
Muller S et al. – The neuropsychological findings suggest that episodic autobiographical memory is affected in long–term patients with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS), possibly due to neurodegenerative processes in functional relevant brain regions.
Methods- The authors used the Autobiographical Memory Interview to assess episodic and semantic autobiographical memory in 112 education- and gender-matched participants, including healthy controls and patients with RRMS, SPMS, amnesic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and early Alzheimer’s dementia (AD).
- Patients with SPMS, AD, and aMCI, but not with RRMS, exhibited a pattern of episodic autobiographical memory impairment that followed Ribot’s Law; older memories were better preserved than more recent memories.
- In contrast to aMCI and AD, neither SPMS nor RRMS was associated with semantic autobiographical memory impairment.
