Repeated assessment of neuropsychological deficits in multiple sclerosis using the Symbol Digit Modalities Test and the MS Neuropsychological Screening Questionnaire

Background Brief cognitive performance tests and self-report measures of neuropsychological symptoms have been proposed for screening purposes in multiple sclerosis (MS) clinics. To better understand the reliability of screening methods, two tests, the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) and the MS...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Multiple sclerosis Vol. 14; no. 7; pp. 940 - 946
Main Authors:	Benedict, RHB, Duquin, JA, Jurgensen, S, Rudick, RA, Feitcher, J, Munschauer, FE, Panzara, MA, Weinstock-Guttman, B
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	London, England SAGE Publications 01-08-2008 Arnold Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects:	Adult Biological and medical sciences Cognition Disorders - diagnosis Cognition Disorders - etiology Cognition Disorders - psychology Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases Depression - diagnosis Depression - etiology Depression - psychology Female Humans Male Mass Screening - methods Mass Screening - standards Medical sciences Middle Aged Multiple Sclerosis - complications Multiple Sclerosis - psychology Multiple sclerosis and variants. Guillain barré syndrome and other inflammatory polyneuropathies. Leukoencephalitis Neurology Neuropsychological Tests - standards Regression Analysis Reproducibility of Results screening depression cognition multiple sclerosis Mood disorder Nervous system diseases Multiple sclerosis Questionnaire Cognitive disorder Neuropsychological test Depression Cognition Medical screening Inflammatory disease Central nervous system disease Degenerative disease
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	Background Brief cognitive performance tests and self-report measures of neuropsychological symptoms have been proposed for screening purposes in multiple sclerosis (MS) clinics. To better understand the reliability of screening methods, two tests, the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) and the MS Neuropsychological Screening Questionnaire (MSNQ), were administered to 76 patients with MS and 25 healthy controls, matched on demographic characteristics. Methods Tests were administered at monthly intervals, over 6 months. In addition, the Beck Depression Inventory Fast Screen for medical patients (BDIFS) was administered to monitor for changes in depression. Our objectives were to determine the reliability of these measures and the relative contribution of cognitive impairment and depression in predicting self-report MSNQ scores. Results Results showed that both the SDMT and MSNQ have good to excellent reproducibility over repeated testing. In MS, there are minimal practice effects over successive tests, in the order of 0.2 SD for SDMT and minimal change in the MSNQ. Regression analyses modeled to predict MSNQ based on SDMT and BDIFS showed significant contribution for both, but with the majority of variance being accounted for depression. Conclusions We conclude that these brief screening tests provide some independent information about the mental status of patients with MS and are reliable, even when used in monthly, successive examinations.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2
ISSN:	1352-4585 1477-0970
DOI:	10.1177/1352458508090923