Validation of Self-Reported Neurological Disability in Multiple Sclerosis

In all 129 unselected patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) completed a 25 item auto-questionnaire for assessment of disability. Each patient was examined on the same day by a neurologist who was blind to patients'answers and gave Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores. From the auto-questionnaire, eight scores were obtained, one for each of the seven functional systems rated by the EDSS and the eighth relating to walking difficulties. Analysis showed that correlation between patients'self assessments and the neurologist's ratings was high (r>0.50) for five out of the eight scores and low for three, especially for brainstem and mental functions which were excluded from subsequent analysis