The Multiple Sclerosis Depression Rating Scale

Abstract

Evaluation of: Quaranta D, Marra C, Zinno M et al. Presentation and validation of the Multiple Sclerosis Depression Rating Scale: a test specifically devised to investigate affective disorders in multiple sclerosis patients. Clin. Neuropsychol. 26(4), 571–587 (2012).

Depression is a troublesome issue in the lives of people with multiple sclerosis (MS). However, there are many questions about how to measure depression in people with MS. Depression is a syndrome that is characterized by emotional, cognitive and somatic symptoms. Depression scales are usually designed to cover each of these domains but in MS there is concern that cognitive deficits and somatic symptoms related to the illness itself may inflate depressive symptom scores, potentially leading to false-positive ratings. Such misclassification may consume excessive resources in screening programs due to the triggering of unnecessary clinical assessments. In research, such misclassification could lead to bias. In an effort to address these issues, the authors of the article under evaluation have recently developed a new scale, the Multiple Sclerosis Depression Rating Scale.

Keywords::

• depression
• depressive disorder
• major depressive episode
• measurement
• mood disorders
• rating scale
• screening

Financial & competing interests disclosure

SB Patten has received speaking fees from Teva, a manufacturer of Copaxone® (glatiramer acetate). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.