Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37062948›Full record

SynthesisBrain and behavior2023

Instruments measuring change in cognitive function in multiple sclerosis: A systematic review.

Chigozie Ezegbe, Amin Zarghami, Ingrid van der Mei, Jane Alty, Cynthia Honan, Bruce Taylor

Abstract readSystematic ReviewMeta-Analysis
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Brain and behavior, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
13citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. Effect of impairment on health-related quality of life in people with multiple sclerosis: association of functional systems and EQ-5D-5L index values in a cross-sectional study.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2025
    Article
  9. Longitudinal Trajectories of Digital Cognitive Biomarkers for Multiple Sclerosis.Annals of clinical and translational neurology · 2025
    Observational
  10. Review
  11. Article
  12. Cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis: from phenomenology to neurobiological mechanisms.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2024
    Review
  13. Frequency of cognitive impairment in patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder in Mexico.Multiple sclerosis journal - experimental, translational and clinical
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Chigozie EzegbeMultiple Sclerosis Research Flagship, Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-1858-1360
Amin ZarghamiMultiple Sclerosis Research Flagship, Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-1135-0255
Ingrid van der MeiMultiple Sclerosis Research Flagship, Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
Jane AltyWicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
Cynthia HonanSchool of Psychological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.
Bruce TaylorMultiple Sclerosis Research Flagship, Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMultiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic demyelinating/neurodegenerative disease associated with change in cognitive function (CF) over time. This systematic review aims to describe the instruments used to measure change in CF over time in people with MS (PwMS).

methodsPubMed, OVID, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were searched in English until May 2021. Articles were included if they had at least 100 participants and at least a 1-year interval between baseline and last follow-up measurement of CF. Results were quantitatively synthesized, presented in tables and risk of bias was assessed with the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.

resultsFifty-seven articles met the inclusion criteria (41,623 PwMS and 1105 controls). An intervention (drug/rehabilitation) was assessed in 22 articles. In the studies that used a test battery, Visual and verbal learning and memory were the most frequently measured domains, but when studies that used test battery or a single test are combined, Information processing speed was the most measured. The Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) was the most frequently used test as a single test and in a test battery combined. Most studied assessed "change in CF" as cognitive decline defined as 1 or more tests measured as ≥ 1.5 SD from the study control or normative mean in a test battery at baseline and follow-up. Meta-analysis of change in SDMT scores with seven articles indicated a nonstatistically significant -0.03 (95% CI -0.14, 0.09) decrease in mean SDMT score per year.

conclusionThis study highlights the slow rate of measured change in cognition in PwMS and emphasizes the lack of a gold standard test and consistency in measuring cognitive change at the population level. More sensitive testing utilizing multiple domains and longer follow-up may define subgroups where CF change follows different trajectories thus allowing targeted interventions to directly support those where CF is at greatest risk of becoming a clinically meaningful issue.

Indexed as

Cognition DisordersCognitive DysfunctionMultiple SclerosisNeurodegenerative DiseasesCognitionHumansNeuropsychological Testschangecognitionimpairmentmeasurementmultiple sclerosis

Identifiers

PMID37062948
PMCPMC10275522

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.