AUTHOR=Lago Sara , Bevilacqua Francesca , Stabile Maria Rosaria , Scarpazza Cristina , Bambini Valentina , Arcara Giorgio TITLE=Case report: Pragmatic impairment in multiple sclerosis after worsening of clinical symptoms JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology VOLUME=13 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1028814 DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1028814 ISSN=1664-1078 ABSTRACT=

Pragmatics, defined as the ability to integrate language and context to communicate effectively, may be impaired in Multiple Sclerosis (MS). We present the case of a patient with active secondary progressive MS who, after a first neuropsychological assessment that evidenced only a slight pragmatic impairment, suffered a sudden worsening of her clinical conditions, treated with corticosteroids. After this clinical worsening, her pragmatic abilities declined markedly, both in comprehension and production. This worsening was accompanied by a decline only in one attention task, in the context of an overall stable cognitive functioning. We conclude that pragmatics may be a domain particularly susceptible to cognitive worsening, highlighting the importance of its assessment in clinical practice.