Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease of the central nervous system that has a prevalence rate in Canada that is among the highest worldwide. MS can also occur in children and adolescents, with up to 10% of patients diagnosed prior to age 18. Cognitive impairment is common for these youth, with particular impact on executive functions. These are a range of skills which play a role in mental control and self-regulation, and allow for engagement in goal-directed behaviours. Deficits in executive function may result in poorer academic function, difficulties in social relationships, reduction in autonomy, greater risk-taking, and challenges in planning to achieve goals. Although these youth fare worse than their peers on executive function tasks, it is not known whether MS leads to slower development, a lack of development, or an actual loss of these functions over time. We also don't know whether children who are younger at their first MS attack are at greater risk of having these cognitive difficulties as the disease progresses. We aim to investigate how executive functions develop differently in youth with MS, and whether one's age at disease onset influences how these functions mature. As performance on typical paper-and-pencil tasks of executive function have not fully mapped on to skills in daily life, we will also explore the experiences of these youth as they encounter real-life challenges that require executive function. This will be done through questionnaires and interviews with the patient and their family. This research will help us to understand cognitive outcomes for patients with pediatric-onset MS. We also hope to gain insight into the real-life consequences of executive dysfunction, to help health care practitioners and families develop strategies for accommodation and rehabilitation around these deficits.