WORKING-MEMORY IMPAIRMENT AMONG PERSONS WITH CHRONIC PROGRESSIVE MULTIPLE-SCLEROSIS

We examined short-term memory (STM) among a group of 23 definite, chro nic progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, all of whom had expe rienced recent significant disease activity, and a control group match ed closely on age and education. MS patients were impaired, relative t o controls, on the majority of the measures used. Although there were no significant differences between groups on the Mini Mental State Exa mination, patients performed more poorly on digits forward and backwar d, the Brown-Peterson test, and the logical memory scale of the Revise d Wechsler Memory Scale (both immediate and delayed). Performance on t ests sensitive to central processing capacity was significantly correl ated with measures of STM. Working memory was significantly impaired i n this sample of chronic progressive MS patients. In conjunction with previous research showing deficient information processing and prefron tal dysfunction among this population, the findings suggest that an im pairment of central information processing may be a fundamental aspect of the mnestic and cognitive decline observed in many chronic progres sive MS patients.