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Validity of the Italian multiple sclerosis neuropsychological screening questionnaire

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A Correction to this article was published on 11 March 2021

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Abstract

The Multiple Sclerosis Neuropsychological Questionnaire (MSNQ) is a brief questionnaire useful for screening patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) at risk for cognitive impairment. It includes a patient self-assessment (MSNQ-p) and a section for the caregiver (informant) (MSNQ-i). This study’s aim was to validate the Italian version of MSNQ and to compare MSNQ scores with Symbol Digit Modality Test (SDMT), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score, measuring cognitive skills, mood status, and physical disability respectively. We enrolled 122 MS patients (and related caregivers) at MS center of Tor Vergata University Hospital of Rome. The final study sample consisted of 122 patients with MS (90 relapsing-remitting, 24 secondary progressive, and 8 primary progressive). Our results highlighted that MSNQ has a unidimensional factor structure. Correlational analyses found a good correlation between both versions (MSNQ-p and MSNQ-i) of the questionnaire. Both MSNQ-p and MSNQ-i were correlated with clinical variables, specifically with cognitive impairment, mood disorder, and with disability. The Italian version of MSNQ is reliable and useful as screening tool to identify MS patients at high risk of cognitive impairment.

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Availability of data and material

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was partly funded by the Italian Ministry of Health (grant GR-2016-02363749 to L.D.)

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Author notes

  1. S. Migliore and D. Landi contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Huntington and Rare Diseases Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy

    Simone Migliore & Ferdinando Squitieri

  2. Multiple Sclerosis Clinical and Research Unit, Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

    Doriana Landi, Francesca Proietti, Giorgia Mataluni, Carolina Gabri Nicoletti & Girolama Alessandra Marfia

  3. Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy

    Francesca Proietti, Giulia D’Aurizio & Giuseppe Curcio

  4. Unit of Neurology, IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Mediterraneo NEUROMED, Pozzilli, IS, Italy

    Girolama Alessandra Marfia

Authors
  1. Simone Migliore
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  2. Doriana Landi
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  4. Giulia D’Aurizio
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  5. Ferdinando Squitieri
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Simone Migliore.

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This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. This is an observational study, no ethical approval is required.

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The original online version of this article was revised: The original article contains an error in author name. In the published article, author name Girolama Alessandra Marfia was incorrectly captured as GirolamaAlessandraAlessandra Alessandra Marfia.

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Migliore, S., Landi, D., Proietti, F. et al. Validity of the Italian multiple sclerosis neuropsychological screening questionnaire. Neurol Sci 42, 4583–4589 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-021-05141-1

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