Over a 7-year assessment period, most individuals with systemic lupus erythematosus did not fluctuate between states of high and low cognitive function, according to findings published by Perera et al in ACR Open Rheumatology. Researchers looked at data from the University of California, San Francisco, Lupus Outcome Study. Approximately 1,300 adults with systemic lupus erythematosus were given the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test–Revised (HVLT-R) and the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT) every year throughout the assessment period. Using the COWAT, self-reported depression was associated with a lower likelihood of cognitive improvement, and self-reported disease severity was associated with cognitive decline. Using the HVLT-R, cognitive improvement was associated with increasing age and higher education level, and cognitive decline was associated with higher self-reported disease severity and depression. The study authors wrote, “This study suggests that individuals with systemic lupus erythematosus who demonstrate high cognition at baseline in domains of verbal learning and memory and verbal fluency tend to maintain high cognition over time and that those who demonstrate low cognition at baseline tend to remain low over time.”
May 25, 2023