Bigi, Sandra; Marrie, R A; Till, C; Yeh, E A; Akbar, N; Feinstein, A; Banwell, B L (2017). The computer-based Symbol Digit Modalities Test: establishing age-expected performance in healthy controls and evaluation of pediatric MS patients. Neurological sciences, 38(4), pp. 635-642. Springer 10.1007/s10072-017-2813-0
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Decreased information processing speed (IPS) is frequently reported in pediatric multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. The computerized version of the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (c-SDMT) measures IPS over eight consecutive trials per session and additionally captures changes in performance within the session. Here, we establish normative c-SDMT performance and test-retest reliability in healthy children (HC) and explore differences in the overall c-SDMT-performance between HC and MS patients. This cross-sectional study included 478 HC (237 female, 49.5%) divided into five age groups (2 years each), and 27 MS patients (22 female, 81.5%) aged 8-18 years. The average time to complete the c-SDMT increased with age (|r| 0.70, 95% CI -0.74, -0.64). Test-retest reliability was high (ICC = 0.91) in HC. The total time to complete the c-SDMT did not differ between children with MS and sex- and age- matched HC (p = 0.23). However, MS patients were less likely to show faster performance across all the successive eight trials compared to HC (p = 0.0001). Healthy children demonstrate faster IPS with increasing age, as well as during successive trials of the c-SDMT. The inability of pediatric MS patients to maintain the increase in processing speed over successive trials suggests a reduced capacity for procedural learning, possibly resulting from cognitive fatigue.
Item Type: |
Journal Article (Original Article) |
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Division/Institute: |
04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Gynaecology, Paediatrics and Endocrinology (DFKE) > Clinic of Paediatric Medicine |
UniBE Contributor: |
Bigi, Sandra |
Subjects: |
600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health |
ISSN: |
1590-1874 |
Publisher: |
Springer |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Anette van Dorland |
Date Deposited: |
21 Mar 2018 14:58 |
Last Modified: |
05 Dec 2022 15:10 |
Publisher DOI: |
10.1007/s10072-017-2813-0 |
PubMed ID: |
28078569 |
Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Neurocognition Pediatric MS Processing speed Symbol Digit Modalities Test |
BORIS DOI: |
10.7892/boris.111151 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/111151 |
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