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ABSTRACT: Background
Cognitive impairment is one of the most debilitating manifestations of multiple sclerosis. Currently, the assessment of cognition relies on a time-consuming and extensive neuropsychological examination, which is only available in some centers.Objective
To enable simpler, more accessible cognitive screening, we sought to determine the feasibility and potential assessment sensitivity of an unsupervised, adaptive, video game-based digital therapeutic to assess cognition in multiple sclerosis.Methods
A total of 100 people with multiple sclerosis (33 with cognitive impairment and 67 without cognitive impairment) and 24 adults without multiple sclerosis were tested with the tablet game (EVO Monitor) and standard measures, including the Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (which included the Symbol Digit Modalities Test [SDMT]) and Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite 4 (which included the Timed 25-Foot Walk test). Patients with multiple sclerosis also underwent neurological evaluations and contributed recent structural magnetic resonance imaging scans. Group differences in EVO Monitor performance and the association between EVO Monitor performance and standard measures were investigated.Results
Participants with multiple sclerosis and cognitive impairment showed worse performance in EVO Monitor compared with participants without multiple sclerosis (P=.01) and participants with multiple sclerosis without cognitive impairment (all P<.002). Regression analyses indicated that participants with a lower SDMT score showed lower performance in EVO Monitor (r=0.52, P<.001). Further exploratory analyses revealed associations between performance in EVO Monitor and walking speed (r=-0.45, P<.001) as well as brain volumetric data (left thalamic volume: r=0.47, P<.001; right thalamic volume: r=0.39, P=.002; left rostral middle frontal volume: r=0.28, P=.03; right rostral middle frontal volume: r=0.27, P=.03).Conclusions
These findings suggest that EVO Monitor, an unsupervised, video game-based digital program integrated with adaptive mechanics, is a clinically valuable approach to measuring cognitive performance in patients with multiple sclerosis.Trial registration
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03569618; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03569618.
SUBMITTER: Hsu WY
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7840186 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Journal of medical Internet research 20210120 1
<h4>Background</h4>Cognitive impairment is one of the most debilitating manifestations of multiple sclerosis. Currently, the assessment of cognition relies on a time-consuming and extensive neuropsychological examination, which is only available in some centers.<h4>Objective</h4>To enable simpler, more accessible cognitive screening, we sought to determine the feasibility and potential assessment sensitivity of an unsupervised, adaptive, video game-based digital therapeutic to assess cognition i ...[more]