%A Sander,Carina %A Hildebrandt,Helmut %A Schlake,Hans-Peter %A Eling,Paul %A Hanken,Katrin %D 2017 %J Frontiers in Neurology %C %F %G English %K Multiple Sclerosis,Cogntive fatigue,Fatigue Sclae for Motor and Cognitive Functions,COMPASS-31,Vagus Nerve,Inflammation,Autonomic Failures %Q %R 10.3389/fneur.2017.00475 %W %L %M %P %7 %8 2017-September-13 %9 Original Research %+ Carina Sander,Institute of Psychology, University of Oldenburg,Germany,carina.sander-sandersfeld@uni-oldenburg.de %+ Carina Sander,Rehabilitation Center Wilhelmshaven,Germany,carina.sander-sandersfeld@uni-oldenburg.de %# %! Cognitive fatigue and autonomic abnormalities %* %< %T Subjective Cognitive Fatigue and Autonomic Abnormalities in Multiple Sclerosis Patients %U https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2017.00475 %V 8 %0 JOURNAL ARTICLE %@ 1664-2295 %X BackgroundCognitive fatigue and autonomic abnormalities are frequent symptoms in MS. Our model of MS-related fatigue assumes a shared neural network for cognitive fatigue and autonomic failures, i.e., aberrant vagus nerve activity induced by inflammatory processes. Therefore, they should occur in common.ObjectiveTo explore the relationship between cognitive fatigue and autonomic symptoms in MS patients, using self-reported questionnaires.MethodsIn 95 MS patients, cognitive fatigue was assessed with the Fatigue Scale for Motor and Cognitive Functions and autonomic abnormalities with the Composite Autonomic Symptom Scale-31 (COMPASS-31). We used exploratory correlational analyses and hierarchical regression analysis, controlling for age, depressive mood, disease status, and disease duration, to analyze the relation between autonomic abnormalities and cognitive fatigue.ResultsThe cognitive fatigue score strongly correlated with the COMPASS-31 score (r = 0.47, p < 0.001). Regression analysis revealed that a model, including the COMPASS-31 domains: pupillomotor, orthostatic intolerance, and bladder, best predict the level of cognitive fatigue (R2 = 0.47, p < 0.001) after forcing the covariates into the model.ConclusionIn MS patients, cognitive fatigue and autonomic dysfunction share a proportion of variance. This supports our model assuming that fatigue might be explained at least partially by inflammation-induced vagus nerve activity.