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The intellectual activity in multiple sclerosis depends on the air temperature
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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American scientists from the Kessler Foundation found a decrease in intellectual activity in people with multiple sclerosis in warming. The results of the study are published in the journal Neurology.
Victoria M. Leavitt (with colleagues) found that when the temperature rises, patients with multiple sclerosis perform tasks that are more difficult to process and memorize information faster. In the study, which lasted more than a year, involved 40 patients with multiple sclerosis and 40 healthy people. Throughout the study period, scientists assessed the speed of processing information and memory performance in both groups. Based on test results, people with multiple sclerosis showed results 70 percent better on cool days. For healthy participants in the experiment, no dependencies were found.
Then Leavitt examined another 45 patients with multiple sclerosis to confirm these data within six months. In her opinion, intellectual activity can better signal the activity of the disease in the absence of symptoms than traditional methods of evaluation.
"This information will allow you to make decisions and choose therapies, as well as to evaluate their effects.The increase in air temperature can be an important factor in the development and conduct of clinical trials, many of which last about six months.For example, basic tests during warm months can be overestimated positive indicators, "- said Dr. Leavitt.
In warm weather, patients with multiple sclerosis show more clinical manifestations of the disease and accumulation of a contrast agent, which is used in MRI, in foci of demyelination.