ReviewNeurology international2022
Brain Structural and Functional Alterations in Multiple Sclerosis-Related Fatigue: A Systematic Review.
Review in Neurology international, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- The relationship between motor and cognitive performance and cortical activity in patients with multiple sclerosis: a systematic review of functional near-infrared spectroscopy studies.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2026Pooled it
- Comparative study for fatigue prevalence in subjects with diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2024Pooled it
- The effect of fatigue on postural control in individuals with multiple sclerosis: a systematic review.BMC neurology · 2023Pooled it
- Dissociating Fatigue and Fatigability in Multiple Sclerosis: The Role of Cognitive Processing Speed.European journal of neurology · 2026Article
- Network Localization of Fatigue in Multiple Sclerosis.Annals of clinical and translational neurology · 2026Article
- Time-Varying Brain Functional Reconfiguration Patterns Associated With Fatigue in Multiple Sclerosis.Human brain mapping · 2026Observational
- Association between fatigue and functional status among patients with multiple sclerosis.Frontiers in neurology · 2026Article
- Fatigue: a common but poorly understood symptom in neurological and non-neurological diseases.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2025Review
- Structural and functional brain correlates of the neutrophil- and monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio in neuropsychiatric disorders.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
- Behavioral disorders in multiple sclerosis: a comprehensive review.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2025Review
- Associations of depression and perceived physical fatigability with white matter integrity in older adults.Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging · 2024Article
- Fatigue and perceived energy in a sample of older adults over 10 years: A resting state functional connectivity study of neural correlates.Experimental gerontology · 2024Article
- Article
- Fatigue may improve equally after balance and endurance training in multiple sclerosis: a randomised, crossover clinical trial.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Article
- Fatigue in early multiple sclerosis: MRI metrics of neuroinflammation, relapse and neurodegeneration.Brain communications · 2024Article
- Evaluating the effects of brain injury, disease and tasks on cognitive fatigue.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- EDSS and infratentorial white matter lesion volume are considered predictors of fatigue severity in RRMS.Scientific reports · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Fatigue is one of the most disabling symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS); it influences patients' quality of life. The etiology of fatigue is complex, and its pathogenesis is still unclear and debated. The objective of this review was to describe potential brain structural and functional dysfunctions underlying fatigue symptoms in patients with MS. To reach this purpose, a systematic review was conducted of published studies comparing functional brain activation and structural brain in MS patients with and without fatigue. Electronic databases were searched until 24 February 2021. The structural and functional outcomes were extracted from eligible studies and tabulated. Fifty studies were included: 32 reported structural brain differences between patients with and without fatigue; 14 studies described functional alterations in patients with fatigue compared to patients without it; and four studies showed structural and functional brain alterations in patients. The results revealed structural and functional abnormalities that could correlate to the symptom of fatigue in patients with MS. Several studies reported the differences between patients with fatigue and patients without fatigue in terms of conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) outcomes and brain atrophy, specifically in the thalamus. Functional studies showed abnormal activation in the thalamus and in some regions of the sensorimotor network in patients with fatigue compared to patients without it. Patients with fatigue present more structural and functional alterations compared to patients without fatigue. Specifically, abnormal activation and atrophy of the thalamus and some regions of the sensorimotor network seem linked to fatigue.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.