Petra Cristian Vasile, Visu-Petra Laura, Buta Monica, Tămaș Maria Magdalena, Benga Oana, Rednic Simona
Department of Rheumatology, "Iuliu Hatieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Developmental Psychology Lab, Department of Psychology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2020 Aug 4;13:619-629. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S261312. eCollection 2020.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory systemic disease associated with various degrees of impairment across different cognitive domains. We aimed to provide a detailed computerized investigation of verbal and visuospatial short-term and working memory (dys)functions in RA patients, assessing both accuracy and response speed, while relating them to age, disease-related activity, affective problems, psychomotor speed and other clinical parameters.
The study included 29 RA patients (mean age 50.6 ± 12.3 years, 79% female) and 30 controls (matched according to age, gender and education), assessed with short-term and working memory tasks from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) and the Automated Working Memory Assessment (AWMA).
RA patients were significantly slower on the basic processing speed test (Motor Screening Test, =0.003). Their short-term information storage (verbal and visuospatial) was comparable to controls, yet this similar accuracy came at the expense of a longer response time to retain information correctly (on spatial span, p = 0.04). On tasks with higher executive demands, both visuospatial and verbal working memory were compromised, as RA patients took longer (p = 0.004) and had a higher number of total errors (p = 0.02) when conducting a strategic memory-guided search (Spatial Working Memory), and had a significantly lower verbal working memory span on the backwards digit recall test (p = 0.02).
The findings of this study emphasize the usefulness of performing computerized tests to detect subtle signs of cognitive impairment and of intact performance, which can inform memory training protocols for this vulnerable population.
类风湿性关节炎（RA）是一种慢性炎症性全身性疾病，与不同认知领域的各种程度的损害相关。我们旨在对RA患者的言语和视觉空间短期及工作记忆（功能障碍）进行详细的计算机化调查，评估准确性和反应速度，并将其与年龄、疾病相关活动、情感问题、心理运动速度和其他临床参数相关联。
该研究纳入了29例RA患者（平均年龄50.6±12.3岁，79%为女性）和30名对照者（根据年龄、性别和教育程度匹配），使用剑桥神经心理测试自动成套系统（CANTAB）和自动工作记忆评估（AWMA）中的短期和工作记忆任务进行评估。
RA患者在基本处理速度测试（运动筛查测试，P=0.003）中明显较慢。他们的短期信息存储（言语和视觉空间）与对照者相当，但这种相似的准确性是以更长的正确保留信息的反应时间为代价的（在空间广度测试中，P=0.04）。在执行要求更高的任务时，视觉空间和言语工作记忆均受到损害，因为RA患者在进行策略性记忆引导搜索（空间工作记忆）时花费的时间更长（P=0.004）且总错误数量更多（P=0.02），并且在倒序数字回忆测试中的言语工作记忆广度明显更低（P=0.02）。
本研究结果强调了进行计算机化测试以检测认知损害的细微迹象和完整表现的有用性，这可为这一脆弱人群的记忆训练方案提供参考。
