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Fluency in multiple sclerosis: which measure is best?
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City 73190, USA. william-beatty@ouhsc.edu
Multiple Sclerosis (Houndmills, Basingstoke, England)
|July 18, 2002
Summary
Semantic fluency measures show promise for assessing cognitive deficits in multiple sclerosis (MS). These tests may offer a language-independent alternative to traditional verbal fluency tests for international research.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Verbal fluency tests assess information retrieval deficits in multiple sclerosis (MS).
- Current letter-based fluency tests (e.g., F, A, S) are language-dependent, limiting international research.
- Semantic fluency offers a potential language-independent alternative.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the utility of semantic fluency measures for discriminating between MS patients and healthy controls.
- To compare the diagnostic performance of semantic fluency with traditional letter-based fluency tests.
Main Methods:
- 203 MS patients and 87 healthy controls participated.
- Participants completed letter-based fluency tasks (F, A, S) and semantic fluency tasks (animals, body parts).
- Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were used to assess diagnostic accuracy.
Main Results:
- Letter-based and semantic fluency measures demonstrated similar sensitivity and specificity in discriminating MS patients from controls.
- Excluding patients with global cognitive impairment enhanced the performance of all fluency measures.
- Semantic fluency measures appear viable for cross-linguistic applications.
Conclusions:
- Semantic fluency tasks are effective in identifying cognitive deficits associated with multiple sclerosis.
- These measures offer a valuable, language-independent alternative for international clinical trials involving MS patients.
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