A recent study suggests that the cognitive profiles of multiple sclerosis (MS) and Alzheimer disease (AD) are distinct. Therefore, in contrast to AD, MS is not associated with impairment of memory consolidation. However, there may be overlap between cognitive deficits related to MS and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). Researchers evaluated cognitively impaired and unimpaired MS patients, AD patients, aMCI patients, and healthy controls (HCs), all elderly (n=20 per group). AD and aMCI diagnoses were derived by consensus conference independent of the MS research project. Neuropsychological measures assessed domains commonly affected in AD, including verbal memory and expressive language. They found:

• Cognitively impaired and unimpaired MS groups did not differ on any measures sensitive to AD.
• Unimpaired MS patients were comparable to HCs.
• Impaired MS patients showed decreased semantic fluency, similar to aMCI patients.
• Lastly, while both AD and aMCI groups had deficient memory retention, there was no evidence of a retention deficit in either MS group.