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Clinical usability of the Story-Based Empathy Task (SET) in non-demented ALS patients

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Abstract

Background

This study aimed at assessing the clinical usability of the Story-Based Empathy Task (SET) in non-demented amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients.

Methods

N = 106 non-demented ALS patients and N = 101 healthy controls (HCs) were administered the SET, which includes three subtests assessing Emotion Attribution (SET-EA), Intention Attribution (SET-IA) and causal inference (SET-CI) — the latter being a control task. Patients also underwent the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET), the Edinburgh Cognitive and Behavioural ALS Screen (ECAS) and a thorough behavioural and motor-functional evaluation. The diagnostics of the SET-EA and -IA were tested against a defective performance on the RMET. The association between SET subtests and cognitive/behavioural outcomes was examined net of demographic and motor-functional confounders. Case-control discrimination was explored for each SET subtest.

Results

Demographically adjusted SET-EA and -IA scores accurately detected defective RMET performances at the optimal cutoffs of <3.04 (AUC = .84) and <3.61 (AUC = .88), respectively. By contrast, the SET-CI performed poorly in doing so (AUC = .58). The SET-EA converged with the RMET, as well as with ECAS-Executive and -Memory scores, whilst the SET-IA was unrelated to cognitive measures (including the RMET); the SET-CI was related to the ECAS-Language the ECAS-Executive. SET subscores were unrelated to behavioural outcomes. Only the SET-EA discriminated patients from HCs.

Conclusions

The SET as a whole should not be addressed as a social-cognitive measure in this population. At variance, its subtest tapping on emotional processing — i.e., the SET-EA — is recommended for use as an estimate of social-cognitive abilities in non-demented ALS patients.

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Data availability

Datasets associated with the present study are available upon reasonable request of interested researchers at the following link: https://zenodo.org/record/7797938#.ZCvtWXZBxPZ.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the patients and their caregivers. Roberta Ferrucci was supported from the Ravelli Research Center (CRC) for Neurotechnology and Brain Therapeutics, University of Milan.

Funding

This research was funded by the Italian Ministry of Health to IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano (Ricerca Corrente, project 23C302) and partially supported by the Italian Ministry of Health to Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico.

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Author notes

  1. The authors Nicola Ticozzi and Barbara Poletti contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology and Laboratory of Neuroscience, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Piazzale Brescia 20, 20149, Milano, Italy

    Edoardo Nicolò Aiello, Federica Solca, Silvia Torre, Eleonora Colombo, Alessio Maranzano, Claudia Morelli, Alberto Doretti, Federico Verde, Vincenzo Silani, Nicola Ticozzi & Barbara Poletti

  2. Neurology Residency Program, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy

    Marco Olivero & Francesco Scheveger

  3. Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, “Dino Ferrari” Center, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy

    Federico Verde, Vincenzo Silani & Nicola Ticozzi

  4. Department of Oncology and Hemato-Oncology, University of Milan, Milano, Italy

    Roberta Ferrucci

  5. Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milano, Italy

    Roberta Ferrucci, Sergio Barbieri & Francesca Mameli

  6. Aldo Ravelli Center for Neurotechnology and Experimental Brain Therapeutics, Department of Health Sciences, International Medical School, University of Milan, Milano, Italy

    Alberto Priori

  7. ASST Santi Paolo e Carlo, San Paolo University Hospital, Milano, Italy

    Alberto Priori

Authors
  1. Edoardo Nicolò Aiello
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  2. Federica Solca
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  3. Silvia Torre
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  4. Eleonora Colombo
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  5. Alessio Maranzano
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  6. Marco Olivero
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  8. Claudia Morelli
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  9. Alberto Doretti
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  10. Federico Verde
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  11. Roberta Ferrucci
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  13. Francesca Mameli
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  14. Alberto Priori
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  15. Vincenzo Silani
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  17. Barbara Poletti
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Barbara Poletti.

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Conflict of interest

V. S. received compensation for consulting services and/or speaking activities from AveXis, Cytokinetics, Italfarmaco, Liquidweb S.r.l., Novartis Pharma AG and Zambon, receives or has received research supports from the Italian Ministry of Health, AriSLA, and E-Rare Joint Transnational Call. He is in the Editorial Board of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Degeneration, European Neurology, American Journal of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Frontiers in Neurology and Exploration of Neuroprotective Therapy. B.P. received compensation for consulting services and/or speaking activities from Liquidweb S.r.l B.P is Associate Editor for Frontiers in Neuroscience. N. T. received compensation for consulting services from Amylyx Pharmaceuticals and Zambon Biotech SA. He is Associate Editor for Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.

Ethical approval

The participants provided informed consent. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano (I.D.: 2013_06_25).

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Aiello, E.N., Solca, F., Torre, S. et al. Clinical usability of the Story-Based Empathy Task (SET) in non-demented ALS patients. Neurol Sci 44, 3181–3187 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-023-06791-z

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