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Sponsor: Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris

Conditions: Multiple Sclerosis

Interventions: Interpersonal Reactivity Index

Countries: France

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system whose exact etiology remains unclear, underpinned by multiple pathophysiological mechanisms, and is a cause of significant motor and cognitive disability. Some studies report a prevalence of 40% to 60% of cognitive impairment during the disease, and represents a major factor influencing quality of life in patients with MS. Cognitive impairment can affect one or more of the 6 cognitive functions, including social cognition and its three components: theory of mind, or an individual's ability to infer intention and other's behavior, empathy, and social perceptions and knowledge. To date, few studies have focused on the more specific study of empathy in MS. They seem to suggest the existence of a deficit but rely on small numbers of patients. There appear to be many confounding factors but their direct relationship to empathy is not clearly established: potentially related comorbidities, such as anxiety and depression that are frequently found in MS patients ; level of education and cognitive reserve; and finally the very characteristics of the disease. Indeed, data concerning relationship between empathy and the activity or stage of MS seem so far contradictory. Alexithymia, or inability to express feelings verbally, is a pathology close to empathy deficit, and can affect patients' daily lives in a similar way. Prevalence of alexithymia in MS patients has been shown to be higher than in general population, and its parallel study with empathy seems relevant. The aim of this study is to assess the level of empathy on a larger scale of MS population and to study various confounding factors known to influence the level of empathy, such as anxiety, depression, level of education but also the characteristics of the disease: its duration of evolution, its stage, its activity, and associated disability. The investigator team will conduct a prospective observational study in MS patients to assess their level of empathy versus a control population of healthy subjects and study the influence of these different variables.