An overview of screening instruments for cognition and behavior in patients with ALS: selecting the appropriate tool for clinical practice

Abstract

Objective: Patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) not only show motor deficits, but may also have cognitive and/or behavioral impairments. Recognizing these impairments is crucial as they are associated with lower quality of life, shorter survival, and increased caregiver burden. Therefore, ALS-specific neuropsychological screening instruments have been developed that can account for motor and speech difficulties. This study provides an overview and comparison of these screeners. Methods: A systematic review was conducted using Medline and Embase. Articles describing cognitive/behavioral screening instruments assessed in ALS patients were included. Screening instruments were compared on multiple factors, such as domains, adaptability, required time, and validation. Results: We included 99 articles, reporting on nine cognitive screeners (i.e. ACE-R, ALS-BCA, ALS-CBS, ECAS, FAB, MMSE, MoCA, PSSFTS, and UCSF-SB), of which five ALS-specific. Furthermore, eight behavioral screeners (i.e. ALS-FTD-Q, AES, BBI, DAS, FBI, FrSBe, MiND-B, and NPI) were reported on, of which three ALS-specific. Conclusion: Considering the broad range of cognitive domains, adaptability, and satisfying validity, the ALS-CBS and ECAS appear to be the most suitable screeners to detect cognitive and behavioral changes in ALS. The BBI appears to be the best option to screen for behavioral changes in ALS, since all relevant domains are assessed, motor-related problems are considered, and has a satisfactory validity. The MiND-B and ALS-FTD-Q are promising as well. In general, all screening instruments would benefit from additional validation research to gain greater insights into test characteristics and to aid clinicians in selecting screening tools for use in clinical practice.

Keywords:

• ALS
• cognition
• behavior
• screening instruments

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Ineke den Braber and Carin Schröder for their work they put into a first draft of the literature search and overview of available cognitive screeners.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

M. A. v. E. received grants from the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (Veni scheme), Joint Program Neurodegeneration (JPND), The Thierry Latran foundation, and the Netherlands ALS foundation (Stichting ALS Nederland). He received travel grants from Shire (formerly Baxalta) and has consulted for Biogen.