Crockford Christopher J, Kleynhans Michaela, Wilton Evelyn, Radakovic Ratko, Newton Judith, Niven Elaine H, Al-Chalabi Ammar, Hardiman Orla, Bak Thomas H, Abrahams Sharon
a Department of Psychology , University of Edinburgh , Edinburgh , UK.
b Euan MacDonald Centre for Motor Neurone Disease Research , Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh , Edinburgh , UK.
Amyotroph Lateral Scler Frontotemporal Degener. 2018 Feb;19(1-2):57-64. doi: 10.1080/21678421.2017.1407793. Epub 2017 Dec 5.
The Edinburgh Cognitive and Behavioural ALS Screen (ECAS) is a short assessment by which neuropsychological symptoms can be detected and quantified in people with ALS. To avoid potential practice effects with repeated administration, here we present alternative versions of the ECAS suitable for measuring change over time.
To develop two alternate versions of the ECAS: ECAS-B and ECAS-C.
One hundred and forty-nine healthy adult participants were recruited. Thirty participants completed a pilot study in developing the alternate versions. Two groups of 40 participants were administered the ECAS-B or ECAS-C and compared to published data of the original ECAS (ECAS-A) to determine equivalence. An additional 39 participants were administered the ECAS consecutively, either repeating the original version (ECAS-A-A-A) serially or the different versions (ECAS-A-B-C) to determine potential practice effects. Recordings of assessments were scored by a second researcher to determine inter-rater reliability.
No significant differences were found between versions (A, B, C) of the composite performance measures of ALS Specific, ALS Non-Specific, and ECAS Total scores. Repeated serial administration of ECAS-A (A-A-A) produced some practice effects for composite scores, whereas no such effects were found when alternate versions were administered serially (A-B-C). Exceptionally high intra-class correlations were found for all three versions of the ECAS suggesting a high degree of rater agreement.
The newly developed alternate forms of the ECAS are both highly equitable to the original ECAS-A and enable avoidance of practice effects, thus supporting their use in measuring cognition and behaviour over time.
爱丁堡认知与行为性肌萎缩侧索硬化症筛查量表（ECAS）是一种简短的评估工具，可用于检测和量化肌萎缩侧索硬化症（ALS）患者的神经心理症状。为避免重复使用带来的潜在练习效应，我们在此展示适用于测量随时间变化情况的ECAS替代版本。
开发两个ECAS替代版本：ECAS - B和ECAS - C。
招募了149名健康成年参与者。30名参与者完成了开发替代版本的初步研究。两组各40名参与者分别接受了ECAS - B或ECAS - C测试，并与原始ECAS（ECAS - A）的已发表数据进行比较以确定等效性。另外39名参与者连续接受ECAS测试，要么连续重复原始版本（ECAS - A - A - A），要么接受不同版本（ECAS - A - B - C）测试，以确定潜在的练习效应。评估记录由另一位研究人员评分以确定评分者间信度。
ALS特异性、ALS非特异性和ECAS总分的综合表现测量版本（A、B、C）之间未发现显著差异。连续重复使用ECAS - A（A - A - A）对综合分数产生了一些练习效应，而连续使用替代版本（A - B - C）时未发现此类效应。ECAS的所有三个版本都具有极高的组内相关性，表明评分者之间具有高度一致性。
新开发的ECAS替代形式与原始的ECAS - A高度等效，且能够避免练习效应，因此支持其用于随时间测量认知和行为。
