Polish validation of the Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS battery): correlation of cognitive impairment with mood disorders and fatigue

Abstract

Background: Cognitive impairment is recognised as a significant clinical issue in Multiple Sclerosis (MS). It can occur at any stage of the disease, affecting quality of life, occupational activity, and adherence to therapy. This makes the availability of a validated assessment tool for detecting and monitoring cognitive dysfunction in multiple sclerosis essential. The Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis is a practical and simple means of administering a battery of three neuropsychological tests, and does not require any formal neuropsychological training. Objective: To establish the validity of BICAMS in the Polish MS population; to assess the correlations of cognitive status with demographic and clinical factors, including affective symptoms and fatigue. Methods: BICAMS was administered to 61 MS patients and 61 HC subjects. Examination of 20 participants with MS was repeated after one to three weeks to assess test-retest reliability. The patients with MS and HC subjects also completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Modified Fatigue Impact Scale (MFIS). Results: The MS group performed worse than the HC group in all three BICAMS components, obtaining the following values respectively: 51.7 and 56.1 (p = 0.02) for CVLT, 25 and 28 (p = 0.03) for BVMT-R, and 48.8 and 57.2 (p < 0.001) for SDMT. All BICAMS tests had very significant correlations in test-retest reliability (r = 0.83, p < 0.001 for CVLT; r = 0.84, p < 0.001 for BVMTR; r = 0.9, p < 0.001 for SDMT). 34% of MS patients presented cognitive dysfunction based on the criterion of one or more test scores below the 5th percentile value of the HC group. Significant anxiety and depressive symptoms were reported by 31.1% and 18.0% of MS patients. 31.1% of PwMS reported significant fatigue. BICAMS test results were not associated with HADS or MFIS scores. Conclusions: The Polish version of BICAMS is a valid and reliable tool for the assessment of cognitive impairment in patients with MS.

Information Processing Speed Assessed with Letter Digit Substitution Test in Croatian Sample of Multiple Sclerosis Patients

“…The specific significance of this study is attributed to the contribution of the LDST validation for the population suffering from MS in the Croatian-speaking area and the ability of creating preconditions for the BICAMS validation [ 9 , 22 , 23 ]. The validation of BICAMS in pwMS has been performed in different countries [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ], and inquires that authors tend to apply specific similar tests in their country if the existing proposed tests through the BICAMS battery (comprising of SDMT, California Verbal Learning Test-II, and the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised) were not available or could not be applied in their country for certain reasons [ 25 , 34 , 36 ]. Future studies might compare the LDST and SDMT in pwMS.…”

Characteristics of Sleep Paralysis and Its Association with Anxiety Symptoms, Perceived Stress, PTSD, and Other Variables Related to Lifestyle in Selected High Stress Exposed Professions

“…The study omitted the exploration of sleep quality, possible other sleep disorders, and the presence of symptoms of affective disorders among participants, which is important in terms of sleep paralysis. We also did not assess cognitive functions that may be important in the development of sleep disorders, including sleep paralysis [67][68][69]. In the current study, we focused on a limited number of variables that could affect SP.…”

Significance of the Diagnosis of Executive Functions in Patients with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis

“…Finally, the current study investigated the relationship between executive functions and intensity of depression symptoms as well as duration of the disease. Many studies point out that depression affects cognitive function, including executive functions [ 38 , 39 ]; however, other studies suggest there is no correlation between depression indicators and cognitive measures [ 3 , 40 ]. Notably, however, conclusions about the effect of depression on cognitive functions, such as attention and executive functions, cognitive flexibility, verbal fluency, set-shifting, suppression, working memory and planning are frequently drawn based on comparative assessments of patients with diagnosed unipolar depression and with no symptoms, rather than with isolated symptoms [ 41 ].…”

“…In addition to neurological symptoms, many patients present difficulties in cognitive functioning, which further affects the quality of their lives [ 3 ]. The percentage of patients with signs of cognitive impairment reported in different studies is varied, ranging between 25% and 70%, depending on the specific characteristics of the condition, as well as approach to recruitment (hospitals, rehabilitation centres versus population studies) and adopted definition of cognitive impairments [ 1 , 3 , 4 ]. It has been suggested that the progressive variant of MS leads to more severe cognitive impairments than RRMS [ 5 ].…”

“…MS adversely affects many aspects of patients’ cognitive functioning, including attention, effectiveness of information processing, executive functions, processing speed, long-term memory, visual learning and recall [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. The problems diagnosed most frequently, at a rate of 51.9–54.3%, are related to processing speed, visual learning and memory.…”