Psycho-social Impact of Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis

NMDA receptor encephalitis is a rare neurological autoimmune disease with severe neuropsychiatric symptoms, but a typically good functional neurological outcome. The majority of patients experience long-term cognitive, psychological and social impairments that have significant consequences for their well-being and quality of life. However, as the disease was only recently discovered (Dalmau and al. Annals of neurology, 2007), this psycho-social impact has not been studied systematically and the resulting consequences for patients are not adequately appreciated.

The proposed study aims at characterizing the cognitive and psycho-social long-term consequences of this rare disease. Our main hypothesis is that NMDAR encephalitis has a persistent and clinically relevant impact on the patients' long-term cognitive, psychological and social well-being. Furthermore, we hypothesize that longterm subjective outcomes depend on both internal and external factors, such as acute disease course, access to post-acute care, caregiver support, personal coping strategies, or access to health education resources and peer group support.