A Short Cognitive and Neuropsychiatric Assessment Scale for Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.

Background: Patients with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) suffer from several neuropsychological impairments. These mainly affect the frontal lobe and subcortical brain structures. However, a scale for the assessment of cognitive and neuropsychiatric disability in PSP is still missing.

Objectives: To create and validate a new scale for cognitive and neuropsychiatric impairment in PSP.

Methods: The Short Cognitive and Neuropsychiatric (ShoCo) scale was developed containing five items (bradyphrenia, apathy, aphasia, dysexecution and disinhibition). Each item can be categorized into 0 = no deficit, 1 = mild deficit, 2 = moderate deficit and 3 = severe deficit. The total score includes 15 points, 0 meaning no deficit and 15 severe deficits. Cross-sectional and longitudinal data from 201 baseline and 71 follow up patients were analyzed.

Results: Baseline ShoCo scale results were 5.9 ± 2.9. No significant differences between patients with Richardson syndrome (PSP-RS) and variants (vPSP) could be detected in the PSP-ShoCo scale scores (PSP-RS 6.1 ± 3.0, n = 160, vPSP 5.1 ± 2.6, n = 41, P = 0.057). The scale showed good correlation with established scores (eg, Montreal cognitive assessment r = -0.535, P = 0.001). The ShoCo scale showed significant annualized change within the PSP-RS patients (baseline 6.2 ± 2.9, follow up 6.9 ± 3.1, annualized diff. 1.0 ± 3.1, n = 57, P = 0.022).

Conclusions: The ShoCo scale seems a promising and valid tool to measure specific neuropsychological disabilities of PSP patients in clinical routine and research.