• XiaoGuang Lin, XueLing Zhang, QinQin Liu, PanWen Zhao, JianGuo Zhong, PingLei Pan, GenDi Wang, and ZhongQuan Yi.
• aDepartment of Neurology, Affiliated Suqian Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Suqian bDepartment of Central Laboratory cDepartment of Neurology, Affiliated Yancheng School of Clinical Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, PR China.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2020 Aug 14; 99 (33): e21750.

BackgroundMultiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory and degenerative neurological disorder of the central nervous system. Cognitive impairment is frequent in MS patients, which not only includes deficits in abilities assessed by traditional neuropsychological batteries, but also often features impairments in social cognition (including theory of mind and facial emotion recognition). Recently, numerous studies have assessed social cognition performance in MS. However, there have been inconsistent findings. Besides, it is not clear how social cognitive abilities are affected in MS subtypes. The aim of this study is to conduct a meta-analysis to characterize social cognition performance in MS and its subtypes (clinically isolated syndrome, relapsing-remitting MS, progressive primary MS, and secondary progressive MS).MethodsLiterature sources will be divided into 2 sections: electronic sources and manual sources. A systematic literature search will be performed for eligible studies published up to June 10, 2020 in 3 international databases (Embase, PubMed, and Web of Science). In addition, manual sources will be searched, such as the references of all included studies. Two researchers will independently conduct the work such as article retrieval, screening, quality evaluation, data collection. Meta-analysis will be conducted using Stata 15.0 software.ResultsThe results of this study will be published in a peer-reviewed journal.ConclusionsThis meta-analysis will provide a high-quality synthesis from existing evidence for social cognition performance in MS and its subtypes.Prospero Registration NumberINPLASY202070028.

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