White matter lesion load and location in relation to cognitive impairment in relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis

In relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) the connection between cognitive impairment (CI) and white matter lesion load (WM-LL) and location is still unclear. This study aimed to identify the relationship between CI in RRMS patients and WM-LL and locations using a fully automated platform. CI and WM-LL were evaluated in 90 patients with RRMS using the Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS) and Automated MRI volumetric measures of WM-LL and lesion distribution. Regression analysis of BICAMS as a dependent variable with different clinical and radiological parameters was performed. Data were obtained from 90 patients with RRMS who had a mean age of 32.74 ± 8.43 years and a female-to-male ratio of 3:1. The mean (± SD) cognitive rating scores for the BICAMS subtests were 28.07 ± 11.78 for the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), 42.32 ± 12.46 for the California Verbal Learning Test-II (CVLT-II), and 16.13 ± 8.17 for the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R). According to the BICAMS criteria, 29 cases (32.2