Barbora Krivankova
University of Glasgow, Scotland
Title: Review of neuropsychology use in multiple sclerosis
Biography
Biography: Barbora Krivankova
Abstract
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a disabling neurological disease common in Scotland. Apart from physical disability MS causes fatigue, depression, anxiety, and cognitive decline. Neuropsychology began to be utilised for cognitive testing, psychological therapy, and other input to help patients with MS. The aim is to analyse service delivery, characteristics of patients referred and outcomes of the Neuropsychology referral.
The retrospective analysis looked at a database of 430 patients with diagnosis of MS. Data collected included patient basic demographics, MS characteristics, details of their Neuropsychology referral and outcomes, for example number of session or recorded benefit.
Results showed that 11% of patients were referred to Neuropsychology since 2017. Out of the patients referred 55% were women and 45% were men. Taking gender ratios of patients with MS into consideration, data shows that 2.3 times (p = 0.004) more men are being referred to Neuropsychology compared to women. Patients with successful referral to Neuropsychology had 1-4 sessions and 48% had a recorded benefit associated.
The study demonstrates benefit of Neuropsychology to management of MS. While identifying that small proportion reached referral. Unproportionate referral by gender was also demonstrated, inviting further analysis of the phenomena to ensure appropriate service delivery in the future.