No abstract

PurposeAlthough smoking is known to cause various symptoms in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, there have been no reports regarding the relationship between smoking and cognitive impairment in MS. Studying the effects of cigarette smoking in MS patients is imperative as there is a high prevalence of cognitive impairment in MS patients. In this study we examined the potentially deleterious effects of heavy smoking on mentation of patients with MS.Patients and methodsMS patients receiving care at the Neurology Clinic at Bezmialem Vakıf University, between the ages of 18–65 years who have at least graduated elementary school were included in the study. The Brief Repeatable Battery of Neuropsychological Tests (BRB-N) is a commonly used method to assess cognitive function in MS patients and was utilized in our study. Patients that smoked for at least 10 pack-years were considered heavy smokers.ResultsAll the patients were stratified into two groups: heavy smokers (n=20) and nonsmokers (n=24). For heavy smokers, their cognitive functioning was more impaired than that of nonsmokers (P=0.04, χ2=4.227). For patients with cognitive impairment, 78.9% of the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test and 63.2% of the Symbol Digit Modalities Test scores were found to be lower.ConclusionPrevious reports have suggested that smoking increases the frequency of relapse among individuals with relapsing-remitting MS and accelerates disease progression in patients with progressive MS. According to the results of our study, heavy smokers had increased cognitive impairment when compared to nonsmokers. Extensive studies are necessary to further elucidate the relationship between smoking and cognitive impairment in MS patients.

Our findings may be a clue for early onset of impairment in cognitive functions in cases with new onset diabetes during pregnancy.

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There is a lack of data on parental attitudes toward children with primary headaches. The aim of this study is to determine whether there is a relationship between primary headaches and parental attitudes in the pre-adolescent pediatric population. In this cross-sectional study, 195 children with primary headache and 43 healthy children aged 9–16 years were included. A questionnaire for sociodemographic variables, visual analog scale (VAS), Social Anxiety Scale and Depression Inventory for Adolescents and Children, and Parental Attitudes Determining Scale (PATS), which is an attitude measure specifically designed to evaluate psychological adjustment, were administered. Of 195 children (female/male ratio: 89/106, mean age: 12.59 ± 1.09 years), episodic migraine ( n = 90), chronic migraine ( n = 25), and tension-type headache ( n = 80) were evaluated. There was no significant difference among headache groups and healthy subjects in terms of depression, anxiety, and fathers’ attitude scale scores. However, there were significant differences in mean mothers’ attitude scale scores and VAS scores ( p = .002, p = .000). Mean oppressive-authoritarian attitude subscale scores of mothers’ was significantly higher in children with chronic migraine ( p = .000). A relationship between depression and VAS scores among all patient groups was detected ( p = .000). Parental age was negatively related to PATS scores of children with episodic migraine and tension-type headache ( p = .037 and p = .036). Parental attitudes may elevate psychiatric symptoms and influence children’s perception of pain intensity and result in chronification of headache. Our findings support that mothers’ attitude toward children with chronic migraine has strong impacts on the child’s pain experience.