Relevance and Impact of Social Support on Quality of Life for Persons With Multiple Sclerosis.

Background: Social support is crucial for persons with multiple sclerosis (MS). We sought to analyze differences in perceived social support in persons with MS vs controls; to study associations between perceived social support, clinical measures, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) variables in persons with MS; and to establish a predictive value of perceived social support for HRQOL.

Methods: We studied 151 persons with MS (mean ± SD: age, 42.

Evaluation of adherence to treatment in patients with multiple sclerosis from Latin America.

Introduction And Aim: Several factors have been associated with poor adherence to disease-modifying drugs (DMD). The aim of this study is to evaluate the adherence to DMD in people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) in Argentina and Ecuador.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed.

Research priorities in multiple sclerosis in Latin America: A multi-stakeholder call to action to improve patients care: Research priorities in MS in LATAM.

As human and economic resources are limited, especially in Latin America (LATAM), it is important to identify research priorities to improve multiple sclerosis (MS) patients care in the region. The objective was to generate a multidisciplinary consensus on research priorities in MS for patients care in LATAM by involving healthcare professionals and MS patient associations. METHODS: consensus was reached through a four-step modified Delphi method designed to identify and rate research priorities in MS in LATAM.

Upper Limb Dexterity in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis: An Important and Underrated Morbidity.

Background: Scales to assess disability in multiple sclerosis (MS) rarely provide reliable data on actual global impairment. Upper limb dysfunction is usually overlooked, which has a negative effect on patient well-being. We sought to analyze associations among upper limb dexterity, lower limb speed, and Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score; the difference in upper limb dexterity between patients with EDSS scores less than 5 and 5 or greater; and the associations that upper limb dexterity, lower limb speed, and EDSS score have with health-related quality of life measurements and depression.

Coping strategies: Seeking personalized care in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. A patient reported measure-coping responses inventory.

Coping is defined as a set of cognitive and behavioral efforts made to master stressful specific demands. Adaptation to chronic diseases, such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS), depends on the effectiveness of coping. To assess the psychometric properties of the Coping Responses Inventory (CRI-A) in persons with MS (PwMS), verifying the transferability of the measure, already validated in the Argentine general population, and to describe the types of coping strategies available for PwMS.

Perceived fatigue in multiple sclerosis: The importance of highlighting its impact on quality of life, social network and cognition.

Objectives: To study the relationship between perceived fatigue and heath related quality of life (HRQoL), social support and cognition in an Argentinean population of patients with MS (PwMS).

Patients And Methods: 128 PwMS were studied, 75 women (58 %). Mean age: 40 ± 10.

Symbol Digit Modalities Test-Oral Version: An Analysis of Culture Influence on a Processing Speed Test in Argentina, Mexico, and the USA.

The Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) is an information processing speed test. The aim of this study was to compare the SDMT across three samples: the USA, Mexico, and Argentina. The hypothesis is that performance will vary based on native language and cultural differences between these countries.

Brain Function Assessment of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis in the Expanded Disability Status Scale: A Proposal for Modification.

Background: There is no consensus regarding assessment of the brain function functional system (FS) of the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). We sought to describe brain function FS assessment criteria used by Argentinian neurologists and, based on the results, propose redefined brain function FS criteria.

Methods: A structured survey was conducted of 113 Argentinian neurologists.

Adaptation and validation of a Spanish version of the treatment burden questionnaire in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Background: The Treatment Burden Questionnaire (TBQ) is a self-reported measure of the effect of treatment workload on patient wellbeing. We sought to validate the TBQ in Spanish and use it to estimate the burden of treatment in Argentinian patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Methods: The TBQ was forward-backward translated into Spanish.

The Role of Information Processing Speed in Clinical and Social Support Variables of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis.

Background And Purpose: Information processing speed is one of the most impaired cognitive functions in multiple sclerosis (MS). There are two tests widely used for evaluating information processing speed: the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) and the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT). To analyze the relationship between processing speed and the clinical and social support variables of patients with MS.

[Objective and subjective prospective memory in patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis].

Introduction: prospective memory is the ability to remember actions in the future or remember delayed intentions.

Objective: to study the relationship between prospective memory complaints with an objective measure of prospective memory and affective-emotional variables such as depression and anxiety.

Subjects And Materials: 51 patients with multiple sclerosis relapsing-remitting and 46 participants in the control group were evaluated with a prospective memory task called El Condor, a questionnaire on subjective complaints of prospective memory, a depression inventory and an anxiety inventory.

Cognitive and neuropsychiatric disorders among MS patients from Latin America.

Cognitive and neuropsychiatric disorders in patients with multiple sclerosis have been extensively documented. The focus of this review will be on cognitive and neuropsychiatric disorders in multiple sclerosis patients from Latin America, in the context of international literature. Multicentre studies carried out in Latin America have shown that 43% of the patients have cognitive impairment and 34.

Influence of nationality on the Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS).

Objective: In answer to the call for improved accessibility of neuropsychological services to the international community, the Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS; MS) was validated in multiple, non-English-speaking countries. It was created to monitor processing speed and learning in MS patients, including abbreviated versions of the Symbol Digit Modalities Test, California Verbal Learning Test, 2nd Edition, and the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test, Revised. The objective of the present study was to examine whether participant nationality impacts performance above and beyond common demographic correlates.

BICAMS in the Argentine population: Relationship with clinical and sociodemographic variables.

The Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS) was developed to provide valid assessment of cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis (MS). The relationship between clinical and social variables and cognitive disorders has been extensively studied, but primarily in developed countries with a focus on other cognitive measures or batteries. The objectives of this study were to analyze the relationship between the BICAMS data and key clinical and sociodemographic variables in the Argentine MS population.

[Neuropsychological performance in patients with myasthenia gravis].

Unlabelled: Myasthenia gravis is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects the neuromuscular transmission. Controversial findings had been reported about cognitive impairment in this disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the cognitive pattern of patients with myasthenia gravis.

A new assessment tool for patients with multiple sclerosis from Spanish-speaking countries: validation of the Brief International Cognitive Assessment for MS (BICAMS) in Argentina.

Background: The Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS) is an international assessment tool for monitoring cognitive function in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. BICAMS comprises the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), the California Verbal Learning Test - Second Edition (CVLT II) and the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test - Revised (BVMT-R). Our objective was to validate and assess the reliability of BICAMS as applied in Argentina and to obtain normative data in Spanish for this population.

Validation of the PASAT in Argentina.

The Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) is one of the most used neuropsychological tests to assess information processing speed and working memory in brain injured patients. This study was carried out with the purpose of obtaining normative data for the PASAT-3″ in a healthy Argentinean population, which would result in a reference control population. The PASAT-3″ was administered in a sample of 296 healthy voluntary subjects, born and living in Argentina.

Normatization of the symbol digit modalities test-oral version in a Latin American country.

The aim of this study was to standardize the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT)-Oral version in a healthy population living in Argentina and to analyze the influence that age, gender, and education have on the SDMT. Secondarily, it is intended to analyze the performance of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) on this test. Two hundred ninety-seven healthy participants were evaluated; they had an average age of 39.

The Effect of Culture on Two Information-Processing Speed Tests.

The Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) has been proposed to replace the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test-3 (PASAT-3) in the Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite because it has the same validity but easy and shorter administration. However, among the two tests, the one that is most affected by culture is still unknown. The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of Argentinian and North American populations on the SDMT and PASAT-3.

[Factors associated to the work situation of patients with multiple sclerosis].

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis is a demyelinating neurological disease that usually gives rise to motor, perceptive, affective and cognitive disorders in patients. These symptoms can lead the person to lose his or her job and lower the quality of life of both patients and their relatives.

Aim: To review the literature on demographic, clinical, cognitive, psychiatric, occupational and social variables associated with the work situation.

Cognitive performance of neuromyelitis optica patients: comparison with multiple sclerosis.

Unlabelled: The aim of the present research was to investigate cognitive pattern of patients with neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and to compare it with multiple sclerosis (MS) patients' performance.

Methods: Fourteen NMO, 14 relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), and 14 healthy control patients participated in the investigation. Neuropsychological functions were evaluated with the Brief Repeatable Neuropsychological Battery for MS; Symbol Digit Modalities Test; Digit Span; and Semantic Fluency.

Epidemiological characteristics of cognitive impairment of multiple sclerosis patients in a Latin American country.

We assessed cognitive performance and physical disability in 111 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and 222 healthy controls in a multicenter study in Argentina to obtain the prevalence of cognitive impairment (CI) in a population of MS outpatients in Argentina. MS patients presented significantly lower scores in all Brief Repeatable Battery of Neuropsychology (BRB-N) tests than did the control group. The prevalence of CI was 43.