Validation of the Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS) in the Russian Population

• Published in: Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society 2022-05, Vol.28 (5), p.503-510
• Main Authors: Evdoshenko, Evgeniy, Laskova, Kristina, Shumilina, Maria, Nekrashevich, Ekaterina, Andreeva, Maria, Neofidov, Nikolay, Kalinin, Ivan, Nikitchenko, Daria, Rogozina, Anna, Kupaeva, Alina, Bulanov, Ilya, Bakirtzis, Christos, Grigoriadis, Nicolaos, Khachanova, Natalia, Davydovskaya, Maria, Makshakov, Gleb
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cognitive ability; Multiple sclerosis; Regular Research; Spatial memory
• ISSN: 1355-6177; 1469-7661
• DOI: 10.1017/S1355617721000722

Cognitive dysfunction is common in multiple sclerosis (MS). The Brief International Cognitive Assessment for MS (BICAMS) battery of tests has been suggested as a measure for the evaluation of the cognitive status of MS patients. This study aims to validate the BICAMS battery in the Russian population of MS patients. Age- and sex-matched MS patients (n = 98) and healthy individuals (n = 86) were included in the study. Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), California Verbal Learning Test, 2nd edition (CVLT-II) and the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test - Revised (BVMT-R) were administered to all participants. The battery was readministered 1 month later to 44 MS patients to investigate the test-retest reliability. MS patients exhibited a significantly lower performance in testing with BICAMS than the control group in all three neuropsychological tests. Test-retest reliability was good for SDMT and CVLT-II (r = .82 and r = .85, respectively) and adequate for BVMT-R (r = .70). Based on the proposed criterion for impairment as z score below 1.5 SD the mean of the control group, we found that 34/98 (35%) of MS patients were found impaired at least in one cognitive domain. Patients with Expanded Disability Status Scale score ≥3.5 performed significantly worse than controls (SDMT, p