Preliminary evaluation of the effect of Compvit-B on memory and learning processes in patients with SCA2

Introduction: spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2) is a neurodegenerative disease with the highest prevalence and incidence rates in the province of Holguin, Cuba. One of its main clinical manifestations is cognitive disorders, fundamentally expressed as frontal-executive and memory deficits. Objective: evaluate the effect of B-complex vitamins on cognitive functions in Cuban patients with SCA2. Methods: twenty patients were included in a clinical intervention study based on the use of Compvit-B for 3 months. An evaluation was conducted of clinical parameters such as the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA), and cognitive parameters like the Stroop test, the phonological verbal fluency test and the verbal memory test. All the studies were conducted before and after the treatment. Results: the study of frontal-executive functions revealed a significant increase in the number of words mentioned in the phonological verbal fluency test at the end of the study. However, the Stroop test did not show any significant change. The verbal memory test showed an increase in the number of words recalled in the first assay, and a reduction in the number of assays required to recall all the words. Scores on the SARA did not change significantly. Conclusions: the paper provides additional evidence in support of the therapeutic and neuroprotective use of B-complex vitamins and presents a new option of symptomatic treatment for patients with SCA2, which will lead to an improvement in their quality of life.