Assessment of cognition using the Rao's Brief Repeatable Battery of Neuropsychological Tests on a group of Brazilian patients with multiple sclerosis

Abstract

To assess the cognition of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) using the Rao's Brief Repeatable Battery of Neuropsychological Tests (BRB-N). Method: BRB-N was translated and adapted for control subjects. Subsequently, it was applied to a group of patients with relapsing-remitting (RR) MS. Results: The assessment on the healthy controls (n=47) showed that the correlation between tests on the same cognitive domain was high and that there was a five-factor solution that explained 90% of the total variance. Except for the Word List Generation subset of tests, the performance of patients with RRMS (n=39) was worse than that of the healthy controls. Conclusion: BRB-N is a relatively simple method to assess cognition of patients with MS in the daily clinic. It does not take long to apply and does not require special skills or equipment. Key words: multiple sclerosis, cognition, memory, neuropsychology.Avaliação da cognição usando a Bateria Breve de Testes Neuropsicológicos de Rao para pacientes brasileiros com esclerose múltipla RESUMO Avaliar a cognição de pacientes com esclerose múltipla (EM), utilizando a Bateria Breve de Testes Neuropsicológicos de Rao (BRB-N). Método: BRB-N foi traduzida e adaptada para controles. Subsequentemente, foi aplicada em um grupo de pacientes portadores de EM RR. Resultados: A avaliação de controles saudáveis (n=47) mostrou que a correlação entre os testes de um mesmo domínio cognitivo era alta e que uma solução de fator cinco explicava 90% da variação total. Exceto pela Lista de Palavras, o desempenho dos pacientes com EMRR (n=39) foi pior que aquele dos controles saudáveis. Conclusão: BRB-N é um método relativamente simples de avaliar cognição de pacientes com EM na prática clínica. O teste não requer muito tempo e não necessita de treinamento ou equipamentos especiais. Palavras-Chave: esclerose múltipla, cognição, memória, neuropsicologia.

BRBN-T validation: adaptation of the Selective Reminding Test and Word List Generation

“…Over the last years, neuropsychological assessment of MS-related cognitive impairment has received growing attention in the routine care of these patients 5,6,8,9 . Unfortunately, in many clinical settings neuropsychological batteries are no well-validated and this can compromise the usefulness of the results to MS patients care.…”

“…measures for detecting cognitive impairment in MS 6,9,10 . As the MS cognitive deficits most frequently involve working and episodic memory, sustained attention, information processing speed and mental flexibility 6,9,11 , Rao et al 4 found that the most sensitive tests for detecting cognitive impairment in this disease were: Selective Reminding Test (SRT), 10 1,4,10 .…”

“…As the MS cognitive deficits most frequently involve working and episodic memory, sustained attention, information processing speed and mental flexibility 6,9,11 , Rao et al 4 found that the most sensitive tests for detecting cognitive impairment in this disease were: Selective Reminding Test (SRT), 10 1,4,10 . There is a consensus regarding BRBN-T psychometric properties, particularly its sensitivity and reliability in detecting cognitive impairment 4,6,8 . A study by Strober 10 and Sepulcre 9 found that BRBN-T has discriminative validity, as it distinguishes MS from healthy controls, with MS patients performing worse than the controls.…”

Utility of the INECO frontal screening (IFS) in the detection of executive dysfunction in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS)

“…Although the clinical utility of such tests is non-contentious, extensive neuropsychological batteries that include such tests rely on specialized and highly trained professionals, increasing time demands, resources, and costs. Even if brief cognitive batteries-such as BICAMS [19] or BRB-N [20]-have also been validated in patients with MS, they only assess one of multiple executive domains, making it impossible to detect other possible frontal dysfunctions in this population. Moreover, in some cases, these batteries can take much longer than the time expected for a screening tool administered at bedside or during a short clinical interview, and they require specific training for their administration [21].…”

Avaliação por ressonância magnética do volume e composição metabólica da formação hipocampal em pacientes com esclerose múltipla em estágio inicial e suas correlações com a memória de longo prazo

“…Ainda quanto às variáveis demográficas, estudos recentes propõem que o NAA cerebral total se correlacione positivamente com as medidas de QI e escolaridade em adultos saudáveis (Glodzik et al, 2012) (Savettieri et al, 2004), corroborados por evidências, por exemplo, de que o estriol pode ser capaz de preservar a transmissão sináptica no hipocampo (Ziehn et al, 2012) e aos efeitos neuroprotetores da progesterona sobre a patologia axonal em modelos desmielinizantes autoimunes (Garay et al, 2009 Brooks;Borela;Fragoso, 2011;Negreiros et al, 2008;Rodrigues et al, 2011). Contudo, a maioria dos estudos publicados incluiu pacientes com grande variabilidade em termos de duração de doença, nível educacional e idade, diferentemente da amostra do presente estudo, mais homogênea, dificultando comparações diretas.…”