Introduction: Cognitive impairment is frequent in persons with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) and can impact on activities of daily living. The capacity to differentiate real changes from background statistical noise induced by human, instrumentational, and environmental variations inherent to the evaluation would improve cognitive assessments. Objective: To assess the short-term reproducibility of cognitive tests in non-multiple sclerosis (non-MS) persons and PwMS. Methods: Sixty-two PwMS and 19 non-MS persons performed 2 measurements, 1 week apart, of the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) and phonological and semantic verbal fluency. Test-retest reliability was evaluated by the intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and agreement by standard error of measurement (SEM) and minimum detectable change (MDC). Results: The reliability of the cognitive variables studied had moderate to high ICC values (ICC > 0.8) in both populations. The threshold to consider a significant cognitive modification evaluated by SEM and MDC was lower in PwMS compared with non-MS persons. Conclusions: SDMT and verbal fluency have good short-term reproducibility in PwMS. Specific SEM and MDC cutoffs based on the same design of evaluation (especially retest timing) and to the targeted pathological population (MS vs. healthy) should systematically be used to consider cognitive modification as significant in research protocol as well as in clinical practice.

中文翻译：

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用于评估多发性硬化症和非多发性硬化症患者认知能力变化的 SDMT 和语言流畅性测试的最小可检测变化是什么？

简介：认知障碍在多发性硬化症 (PwMS) 患者中很常见，并且会影响日常生活活动。将真实变化与评估固有的人为、仪器和环境变化引起的背景统计噪声区分开来的能力将改善认知评估。目的：评估非多发性硬化症 (non-MS) 人和 PwMS 认知测试的短期可重复性。方法：62 名 PwMS 和 19 名非 MS 人员对符号数字模态测试 (SDMT) 以及语音和语义语言流畅性进行了 2 次测量，间隔 1 周。重测信度通过组内相关系数 (ICC) 和一致性通过测量标准误差 (SEM) 和最小可检测变化 (MDC) 进行评估。结果：研究的认知变量的可靠性在两个人群中都具有中等至高的 ICC 值（ICC > 0.8）。与非 MS 人相比，PwMS 中考虑由 SEM 和 MDC 评估的显着认知改变的阈值较低。结论：SDMT 和语言流畅性在 PwMS 中具有良好的短期再现性。应系统地使用基于相同评估设计（尤其是重新测试时间）和针对目标病理人群（MS 与健康）的特定 SEM 和 MDC 截止值，以将认知改变视为研究方案和临床实践中的重要因素。结论：SDMT 和语言流畅性在 PwMS 中具有良好的短期再现性。应系统地使用基于相同评估设计（尤其是重新测试时间）和针对目标病理人群（MS 与健康）的特定 SEM 和 MDC 截止值，以将认知改变视为研究方案和临床实践中的重要因素。结论：SDMT 和语言流畅性在 PwMS 中具有良好的短期再现性。应系统地使用基于相同评估设计（尤其是重新测试时间）和针对目标病理人群（MS 与健康）的特定 SEM 和 MDC 截止值，以将认知改变视为研究方案和临床实践中的重要因素。