Cognition and Brain Atrophy in Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) have been shown to reduce the rate of brain atrophy. Determining whether that reduction is associated with a clinical effect is challenging. For this meta-analysis, investigators evaluated brain atrophy and cognition in 14 MS clinical trials that were at least 2 years long and assessed cognitive performance. The trials included a total of 8813 patients with MS.

The treatment effect on processing speed was highly associated with the treatment effect on brain atrophy (R²=0.79; P<0.001). The correlation between treatment effect on cognition and MRI brain lesions was lower (R²=0.16; P=0.14) and did not remain in the final model.