Article

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between third ventricular width, a measure
of thalamic brain atrophy, and motor vehicle violation type and frequency in a
cohort of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). DESIGN: Retrospective cohort
study. SETTING: Tertiary care university hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-five
individuals with clinically confirmed relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis and
35 age-, sex-, and education-matched community-dwelling healthy comparisons
(N=70). Participants were aged between 25 and 65 years. INTERVENTIONS: Not
applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Data on motor vehicle violations were obtained
from an online database (Iowa Courts Online). The violations were categorized as
follows: (1) speeding, (2) nonmoving safety, (3) administrative, (4)
alcohol-related offense, (5) moving safety, and (6) total violations.
Neuropsychological performance in all major cognitive domains was obtained.
Thalamic atrophy for the patients with MS was determined via third ventricular
width measurement. RESULTS: The MS group had a greater number of overall
violations, administrative violations, and nonmoving safety violations. The
groups differed on neuropsychological tasks measuring visuospatial skills,
speeded language, learning, and executive functioning, after controlling for
affective symptoms. Third ventricular width was associated with total violations
as well as moving safety violations. Finally, third ventricular width accounted
for a significant variance in driving violation frequency above and beyond
demographic variables and neuropsychological factors. CONCLUSIONS: There is an
increased frequency of motor vehicle violations among patients with multiple
sclerosis, and the number of violations can be predicted by thalamic brain
atrophy.
CI - Copyright (c) 2014 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by
Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS