In a large study led by the MHH neurology department, researchers investigated the cognition of patients with the rare disease NMOSD. It was found that about 20 percent of those affected have limited cognitive abilities.
People with the rare neuromyelitis optica spectrum disease (NMOSD) have severe physical and psychological impairments. But do they also suffer from limitations in their cognitive abilities? Neurologists investigated this in the CogniNMO study. A total of 17 treatment centers specialized in the disease in Germany took part. Professor Dr. Corinna Trebst and Dr. Martin Hümmert from the Department of Neurology at the Hannover Medical School (MHH) led the study. The results were published in the Multiple Sclerosis Journal.
There are a few thousand people with NMOSD in Germany. This is a rare autoimmune disease that causes relapsing inflammations of the central nervous system. Those affected suffer from limitations such as impaired vision, paralysis, incontinence and pain. “Whether their cognitive abilities are also reduced has not been clear until now. Studies had delivered different and partly contradictory results on this,” Professor Trebst says.
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