RETRACTED: Cognitive linguistic deficits in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (Retracted Article)

Background: Recent years have witnessed increasing reports of language dysfunction associated with the neuropathology of multiple sclerosis (MS). Although linguistic compromise is not traditionally thought to be a significant clinical manifestation of MS, a number of published case and group reports have uncovered the presence of higher-level language and isolated general language deficits in samples of patients with both chronic progressive and relapsing-remitting (RR) subtypes of the disease. To the present day however, the precise nature and extent of a language compromise in MS remains largely controversial and unclear.Aims: The present study aims to profile the cognitive linguistic abilities of a cohort of fifteen RR-subtype MS patients against an age- and education-matched group of neurologically normal control participants.Methods & Procedures: MS participants were assessed using a comprehensive battery of cognitive linguistic assessments targeting general and higher-level language behaviours.Outcomes & Results: The results revealed reduced performance on higher-level language subtests including: listening comprehension (making inferences), oral expression (recreating sentences), semantic absurdities and definitions. For the general language behaviours, a reduced performance was found for spontaneously elicited speech, repetition and naming.Conclusions: The findings are suggestive of both expressive language and higher-level language dysfunction in RR subtype MS and highlight deficits in linguistic organisation, retrieval mechanisms and semantic manipulation and processing.