Cross-cultural Adaptation, Reliability, and Validity of the BICAMS in Brazil

To investigate the reliability and validity of a Brazilian-Portuguese adaptation of the Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS).

A Brazilian sample of 58 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and 58 healthy controls (HC) were administered the Brazilian-Portuguese BICAMS test battery, comprising the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), California Verbal Learning Test Second Edition (CVLT2), and the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test Revised (BVMTR). Mean differences between groups on BICAMS tests were assessed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), controlling for age, gender, education, anxiety, and depression. Test-retest data were obtained from 49 of the MS patients, two weeks after the initial assessment.

The MS patient group scored significantly lower on all BICAMS tests (CVLT2 F1,110 = 28.99, p < .001; BVMTR F1,110 = 7.77, p < .01; SDMT F1,110 = 21.09, p < .001). Mixed-factor ANCOVAs tested differences in learning curves across trials for CVLT2 and BVMTR. HCs had significantly steeper learning curves on both CVLT2 (F1,111 = 10.82, p < .01) and BVMTR (F1,110 = 7.816, p < .01). These findings support diagnostic validity of the Brazilian-Portuguese adaptation. Test-retest reliability was satisfactory for SDMT, CVLT2, and BVMTR (.86, .84, and .77, respectively).

The results suggest that this Brazilian version of the BICAMS will be a valid and reliable measure once complete normative data become available.