Which of these assessment findings should the healthcare provider expect to identify as an early clinical characteristic of multiple sclerosis (MS)?

MS is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. Demyelination will cause slowed conduction and eventually loss of function. Vision loss and eye pain (optic neuritis) are early symptoms of MS due to inflammation of the optic nerve. Dementia is uncommon and found only in severely affected patients. Clonus (rhythmic contractions when a muscle is stretched) is a sign of nerve damage which may be seen as MS progresses. Muscle atrophy is also a later sign of MS which is caused by disuse of a muscle group.