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First published on May 27, 2008, doi:10.1177/1352458508088916

Multiple Sclerosis 2008;14:988.

A more recent version of this article appeared on August 1, 2008

Article

Patient perception of bodily functions in multiple sclerosis: gait and visual function are the most valuable

C Heesen1*, J Böhm1, C Reich2, J Kasper3, M Goebel1, and S M Gold4

1 Institute of Neuroimmunology and Clinical MS Research (INiMS), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
2 Competenzzentrum Versorgungsforschung in der Dermatologie (CVderm), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
3 Department of Health Sciences, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
4 Multiple Sclerosis Program, Department of Neurology and Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.


  Abstract

Multiple sclerosis is a heterogeneous disease with varying clinical picture. There have been substantial efforts to develop outcome measurements for therapeutic interventions but very few studies have addressed the value of bodily functions from the patient perspective. In a randomly selected cohort of early (<5 years, n=84) and longer lasting disease courses (>15 years, n=82) patients we asked for a weighting of 13 bodily functions and compared results with actual disability as measured by the United Kingdom Disability Scale. Lower limb function was given the highest priority in both patient groups followed by visual functioning and cognition especially in longer lasting MS. Actual disability did not correlate with the given priorities indicating that experienced deficits do not influence the subjective ratings of bodily functions. These results underline that ambulation-focused scales in MS represent a key dimension from the patient perspective. Visual functioning should be taken more into account.

Key Words: multiple sclerosis, outcome scale, perception of bodily functions, United Kingdom Disability Scale


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