The adverse health effects of stress induced exhaustion disorder (SED) cause increasing concern in Western societies. This disorder is characterized by severe fatigue, decreased tolerance to further stress, and attention and memory lapses. Despite subjective complaints, individual cognitive deficits are not always detected in a clinical setting, which calls for the validation of more sensitive instruments. The objective of this study was to investigate if a short, tablet-based serial naming task, MapCog Spectra (MCS) could be used as a marker for cognitive problems in SED. The study comprised of 39 subjects (35 females, four males) with SED. Their mean age was 46,8 years (SD 10.1; range 30–60 yrs.). All participants were healthcare professionals, with a college or university degree, doctors, registered nurses, and psychologists. The MCS was used to assess the number of aberrant pauses during serial naming of coloured geometrical shapes. The Coding, Matrix Reasoning, Digit Span, Symbol Search of the WAIS-IV, and RUFF 2&7 tests, were administered together with a short interview. Mean values were within normal reference limits for all tests, except for the MCS, which showed a significantly higher number of aberrant pauses (p < 0,001) in the SED group, compared to normal reference values. Although subjects performed within normal limits on the RUFF 2&7, a significant difference between individuals was found in the performance strategy of the participants. Here we report that subjects with SED have performance deficits on the MCS, in terms of aberrant pause times, despite average performance on WAIS-IV tests measuring inductive reasoning, processing speed, working memory, and attention. We also demonstrate that subjects use different strategies to overcome their problems. These findings add to the growing evidence of cognitive deficits in SED and that the MCS might aid neuropsychologists in disentangling cognitive markers, important to substantiate the subjective complaints of affected individuals.

中文翻译：

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应激性衰竭障碍的认知功能受损：一种新的基于平板电脑的评估

压力性疲劳障碍 (SED) 对健康的不利影响在西方社会引起越来越多的关注。这种疾病的特点是严重疲劳、对进一步压力的耐受性下降以及注意力和记忆力下降。尽管存在主观抱怨，但在临床环境中并不总能检测到个体认知缺陷，这需要对更敏感的仪器进行验证。本研究的目的是调查基于平板电脑的简短连续命名任务 MapCog Spectra (MCS) 是否可以用作 SED 认知问题的标记。该研究包括 39 名患有 SED 的受试者（35 名女性，4 名男性）。他们的平均年龄为 46.8 岁（SD 10.1；范围 30-60 岁）。所有参与者都是拥有学院或大学学位的医疗保健专业人员、医生、注册护士和心理学家。MCS 用于评估彩色几何形状连续命名期间的异常停顿次数。WAIS-IV 的编码、矩阵推理、数字跨度、符号搜索和 RUFF 2&7 测试与简短访谈一起进行。所有测试的平均值都在正常参考范围内，除了 MCS，与正常参考值相比，MCS 在 SED 组中显示出明显更高的异常停顿数 (p < 0,001)。尽管受试者在 RUFF 2&7 上的表现在正常范围内，但在参与者的表现策略中发现个体之间存在显着差异。在这里，我们报告说，尽管在 WAIS-IV 测试中测量归纳推理、处理速度、工作记忆和注意力。我们还证明受试者使用不同的策略来克服他们的问题。这些发现增加了 SED 认知缺陷的越来越多的证据，并且 MCS 可能有助于神经心理学家解开认知标记，这对于证实受影响个体的主观抱怨很重要。