This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (10) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Rosti, E Articles by Hokkanen, L Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Rosti, E Articles by Hokkanen, L Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The PASAT performance among patients with multiple sclerosis: analyses of responding patterns using different scoring methods

Seinäjoki Central Hospital, Department of Neurology, Hanneksenrinne 7, 60220 Seinäjoki, Finland, Tampere University Hospital, Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation, PO Box 2000, 33521 Tampere, Finland, eija.rosti{at}pshp.fi

P Hämäläinen

Masku Neurological Rehabilitation Centre, PO Box 15, 21251 Masku, Finland

K Koivisto

Seinäjoki Central Hospital, Department of Neurology, Hanneksenrinne 7, 60220 Seinäjoki, Finland

L Hokkanen

University of Helsinki, Department of Psychology, Siltavuorenpenger 20, 00014 Helsinki, Finland

The Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) is widely used in the evaluation of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients’ cognitive performance, and also used as the sole measure of cognition in a recently developed assessment tool for MS clinical trials, the Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite (MSFC). We analysed if MS patients and healthy controls have different patterns of responding in the PASAT, and whether different scoring methods influence the PASAT’s sensitivity and specificity in detecting disease-associated cognitive impairment. Forty-five relapsing-remitting MS patients and 48 healthy controls were evaluated using the PASAT and a comprehensive neuropsychological examination. Cognitively deteriorated MS patients compensated for their difficulties in PASAT by omitting rather than guessing answers. They skipped items intermittently, which reduces the difficulty of the task. Furthermore, towards the end of the PASAT’s 60-item series MS patients’ performance had a trend to fade whereas controls’ performance was more even throughout the task. The dyad score or the percent dyad score did not essentially improve the sensitivity or the specificity, but the accuracy improved when the answers at the end of the PASAT series were specifically emphasized. Using the combined score, 73% of the patients were correctly classified as cognitively impaired or unimpaired.

Key Words: dyad score • multiple sclerosis • Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite (MSFC) • neuropsychological evaluation • Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) • scoring

Multiple Sclerosis, Vol. 12, No. 5, 586-593 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1352458506070624


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				R. Prakash, E. Snook, J. Lewis, R. Motl, and A. Kramer Cognitive impairments in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: a meta-analysis Multiple Sclerosis, November 1, 2008; 14(9): 1250 - 1261. [Abstract] [PDF]

				G. Nagels, M.B. D'hooghe, D. Kos, S. Engelborghs, and P.P. De Deyn Within-session practice effect on paced auditory serial addition test in multiple sclerosis Multiple Sclerosis, January 1, 2008; 14(1): 106 - 111. [Abstract] [PDF]

				A. Solari, A. Motta, D. Radice, and L. Mendozzi A shortened version of PASAT-3 is feasible Multiple Sclerosis, September 1, 2007; 13(8): 1020 - 1025. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. Tiainen, E. Poutiainen, T. Kovala, O. Takkunen, O. Happola, and R. O. Roine Cognitive and Neurophysiological Outcome of Cardiac Arrest Survivors Treated With Therapeutic Hypothermia Stroke, August 1, 2007; 38(8): 2303 - 2308. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]