Cognitive and academic outcomes in children with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease.
Audrey Mittelman, Julie Pique, Vincent Desportes and 3 others
PMID 39412046WHAT IT FOUND
Children with MOGAD showed a sharp rise in school support needs after onset.
Nearly 40% required interventions like extra time or assistants, up from under 9% before. This occurred even in those with optic neuritis who had normal vision, suggesting the disease itself impacts learning.
Key findings
01The proportion of children needing academic or educational interventions rose from 8.6% before disease onset to 39.5% at last follow-up.
02Academic difficulties occurred in children with optic neuritis who had normal visual acuity, indicating the cause was the underlying disease rather than vision loss.
03In the subset of 10 children who underwent cognitive testing, results were heterogeneous and mostly below the mean of the normative population, with none meeting criteria for intellectual disability.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study was retrospective and descriptive, meaning it could not prove that MOGAD caused the academic difficulties, only that they occurred together. Cognitive testing was not systematic; it was only done for 10 of the 51 patients who already had suspected issues, which likely biases the results toward showing more impairment. The follow-up duration was variable and often short, so long-term academic outcomes may not be fully captured. There was no control group of healthy children or children with other conditions to compare the rate of school difficulties.
Declared interests
Not reported in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that a child with normal vision and physical recovery from MOGAD has no cognitive or academic deficits. This study found that nearly 40% of children needed school support after onset, including those with optic neuritis, suggesting the disease affects learning independently of physical symptoms.