Rated cognition in nursing home residents with multiple sclerosis: cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses.

Abstract

To examine cognitive change in nursing home residents with multiple sclerosis (MS) over the first year of a nursing home stay and to predict cognition functioning in these residents at admission and the 1-year annual assessment. In the first part of this study, the cognitive functioning of nursing home residents with MS (n = 1890) and without MS (n = 22,985) were compared. In the second part, demographic and other variables were used to predict cognition at the admission and 1-year annual assessment for MS residents. Nursing home residents with MS had better cognitive functioning than residents without MS at admission and 1 year later. Regression analyses demonstrated that higher education and pain predicted higher Minimum Data Set Cognition Scale (MDS-Cog) at admission and at 1 year later, but poorer activities of daily living predicted worse MDS-Cog at admission and 1 year later. For the longitudinal analysis, MDS-Cog at the admission assessment was an independent predictor of MDS-Cog scores at the 1-year annual assessment. Nursing home residents with MS have significantly better cognitive functioning than non-MS residents and, over the first year of a nursing home stay, higher education and pain, but lower activities of daily living, predict poorer cognitive functioning.