The Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS) is a promising screening tool to predict actual functional performance in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a study of 41 individuals with MS and 32 healthy controls.
Investigators administered BICAMS and Actual Reality (AR) tests to participants, which included using the internet to purchase a flight ticket or cookies. Subjects with MS performed significantly worse on both BICAMS and AR than controls. In addition, better BICAMS performance was associated with more independent AR performance.
Citation: Goverover Y, Chiaravalloti N, DeLuca J. Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS) and performance of everyday life tasks: Actual Reality. Mult Scler. 2015. pii: 1352458515593637.
Commentary: Disease impact for those with chronic illness such as MS goes beyond points on a scale such as EDSS. Real life impact and change in ability or accumulated disability is what is really important for people afflicted with disorders such as MS. Too long have we utilized scales that reflect a complex distillation of changes on a neurological exam independent of what the impact of illness really means or reflects in everyday life. This study reflects an important process of tying disability to real life everyday impact of illness and what this means to people afflicted by these disorders. When we finally move away from idealistic scales such as EDSS that are important to clinicians in clinical trials and regulatory agencies to the measurements that impact everyday life—and that are important to patients, families, caregivers, clinical care providers, and payers—then we can truly identify disease impact and therapy efficacy. —Mark Gudesblatt, MD, Medical Director of the Comprehensive MS Care Center at South Shore Neurologic Associates in Islip, NY