Reliability and validity of Arabic version of the brief international cognitive assessment for multiple sclerosis: Egyptian dialect

• Published in: The Egyptian Journal of Neurology, Psychiatry and Neurosurgery Vol. 57; no. 1; pp. 1 - 8
• Main Authors: Farghaly Marwa, Langdon, Dawn W, Shalaby, Nevin M, Shehata, Hatem S, Abokrysha, Noha T, Hassan Amr, Hegazy, Mohamed I, Elmazny Alaa, Ahmed, Sandra, Shaheen Shaimaa, Othman, Alshaimaa S, Yacoub Osama, Kishk, Nirmeen A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Mumbai Springer Nature B.V 14-04-2021; SpringerOpen
• Subjects: Arabic version; BICAMS; Cognitive assessment; Multiple sclerosis; Reliability; Validity
• ISSN: 1110-1083; 1687-8329
• DOI: 10.1186/s41983-021-00303-6

BackgroundGiven the diversity of multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms including cognitive impairment in certain domains, the need to develop a rapid and at the same time thorough tool for cognitive assessment is mandatory and represents an unmet need in the clinical and research fields of MS. The Brief International Cognitive Assessment for MS (BICAMS) is a good and practical tool to achieve this mission but is not present in the Arabic language for Arabic speaking countries yet.ObjectivesTo assess the reliability and validity of Arabic version of the BICAMS (Egyptian dialect).MethodsNinety Egyptian MS patients and 85 matched healthy controls underwent neuropsychological testing using the BICAMS Arabic version (Egyptian dialect) battery including the Symbol Digit Modality Test (SDMT), California Verbal Learning Test 2nd edition (CVLT-II), and revised Brief Visuospatial Retention Test- (BVRT-R). Test–retest data were obtained from MS patients 2 weeks after the initial assessment. Mean differences between both groups were assessed controlling for age, gender, and educational level.ResultsThe MS patients scored significantly lower on the SDMT, CVLT-II, and BVMT-R tests compared to healthy controls (p<0.001). For MS patients’ group, intra-observer (test–retest) reliability was satisfactory for SDMT, CVLT-II total, and BVRT-R total with r values of 0.85, 0.61, and 0.68, respectively.ConclusionBICAMS Arabic version is a reliable and valid tool for cognitive assessment of Arabic speaking MS patients in different clinical and research settings.