BACKGROUND Persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) and depression symptoms report real-world cognitive difficulties that may be missed by laboratory cognitive tests. OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship of depressive symptoms to cognitive monotasking versus multitasking in early MS. METHOD Persons with early MS (n = 185; ⩽5 years diagnosed) reported mood, completed monotasking and multitasking cognitive tests, and received high-resolution 3.0 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Partial correlations analyzed associations between mood and cognition, controlling for age, sex, estimated premorbid IQ, T2 lesion volume, and normalized gray matter volume. RESULTS Depression symptoms were more related to worse cognitive multitasking (-0.353, p < 0.001) than monotasking (r = -0.189, p = 0.011). There was a significant albeit weaker link to cognitive efficiency composite score (r = -0.281, p < 0.001), but not composite memory (r = -0.036, p > 0.50). Findings were replicated with a second depression measure. Multitasking was worse in patients with at least mild depression than both patients with no/minimal depression and healthy controls. Multitasking was not related to mood in healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS Depression symptoms are linked to cognitive multitasking in early MS; standard monotasking cognitive assessments appear less sensitive to depression-related cognition. Further investigation should determine directionality and mechanisms of this relationship, with the goal of enhancing treatment for cognitive dysfunction and depression in MS.

中文翻译：

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早期多发性硬化症的抑郁和认知功能：多任务处理比传统评估更敏感

背景技术患有多发性硬化症（MS）和抑郁症状的人报告了现实世界的认知困难，而实验室认知测试可能会忽略这些困难。目的 探讨早期 MS 中抑郁症状与单任务认知与多任务认知的关系。方法 早期 MS 患者（n = 185；确诊 5 年）报告情绪，完成单任务和多任务认知测试，并接受高分辨率 3.0 T 磁共振成像 (MRI)。偏相关分析了情绪和认知之间的关联，控制了年龄、性别、估计的病前智商、T2 病变体积和标准化灰质体积。结果 与单任务处理（r = -0.189，p = 0.011）相比，抑郁症状与较差的认知多任务处理（-0.353，p < 0.001）更相关。与认知效率综合得分（r = -0.281，p < 0.001）有显着但较弱的联系，但与综合记忆力没有联系（r = -0.036，p > 0.50）。研究结果在第二项抑郁症测量中得到了重复。患有至少轻度抑郁症的患者的多任务处理能力比没有/轻度抑郁症的患者和健康对照者更差。在健康对照组中，多任务处理与情绪无关。结论 抑郁症状与早期多发性硬化症的认知多任务处理有关。标准的单任务认知评估似乎对抑郁相关认知不太敏感。进一步的研究应该确定这种关系的方向性和机制，以加强对多发性硬化症认知功能障碍和抑郁症的治疗。