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 < .0001; CVLT–II, p = .03; BVMT-R, p = .0004), while those with ≤3.0 scores did not.

This study demonstrates that the BICAMS battery is a valid instrument to identify cognitive impairment in MS patients and it can be recommended for routine use in the Russian Federation.

认知功能障碍在多发性硬化症 (MS) 中很常见。MS 的简要国际认知评估 (BICAMS) 测试组合已被建议作为评估 MS 患者认知状态的衡量标准。本研究旨在验证俄罗斯 MS 患者群体中的 BICAMS 电池。

年龄和性别匹配的 MS 患者 ( n = 98) 和健康个体 ( n = 86) 被纳入研究。对所有参与者进行了符号数字模态测试 (SDMT)、加州语言学习测试第 2 版 (CVLT-II) 和简要视觉空间记忆测试 - 修订版 (BVMT-R)。1 个月后，该电池被重新用于 44 名 MS 患者，以调查重测信度。

在所有三项神经心理学测试中，MS 患者在 BICAMS 测试中的表现明显低于对照组。SDMT 和 CVLT-II 的重测信度良好（分别为r  = .82 和r  = .85），BVMT-R 的信度足够（r  = .70）。根据建议的损伤标准，即z评分低于对照组平均值 1.5 SD，我们发现 34/98 (35%) 的 MS 患者至少在一个认知领域受损。扩展残疾状态量表评分≥3.5 的患者表现明显低于对照组（SDMT，p  < .0001；CVLT-II，p  = .03；BVMT-R，p = .0004)，而分数≤3.0 的人则没有。

这项研究表明，BICAMS 电池是识别 MS 患者认知障碍的有效工具，可推荐用于俄罗斯联邦的常规使用。