Background: The Brief International cognitive assessment for Multiple sclerosis (BICAMS) is a specific batterie used to identify cognitive impairment in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in a reliable and easy way. To date, for the Arabic-speaking Tunisian MS patients, there is no consensus for the use of specific cognitive batteries in MS. Objective: The aim of our work was to develop and validate the Tunisian version of the BICAMS (T-BICAMS) and to determine our own normative values. Material and methods: Patients diagnosed with MS and followed up in the department of Neurology of Razi Hospital were recruited and matched to healthy controls according to age, sex and educational level. T-BICAMS validity was established by comparing MS and healthy controls for symbol digit modalities test (SDMT), brief visual memory test (BVMT-R) and Tunisian verbal learning tests (TVLT) which was used instead of the California verbal learning test (CVLT-II). Results: The 104 MS patients and 104 healthy controls were comparable for age, sex and educational level. The MS group exhibited lower performances in all T-BICAMS domains compared to healthy controls: SDMT (x003Dp<10-3), BVMT-R (p = 0.002) and TVLT (p x003D<10-3). T-BICAMS Cronbach alpha value was 0.741. Normative values were identified for patients with MS: SDMT [39-40], BVMT-R [26-27] and TVLT [43-44]. Cognitive impairment was identified among 76 patients (73.1%). Males, lower educational levels and progressive MS were associated with a more severe cognitive impairment. Conclusions: The current study has established the BICAMS as a valid and reliable tool for the identification of cognitive impairment in the Tunisian MS population.

Souissi A, Mrabet S, Ferchichi W, Gharbi A, Nasri A, Djebara MB, Kacem I, Gouider R. Tunisian version of the brief international cognitive assessment for multiple sclerosis: Validation and normative values. Mult Scler Relat Disord. 2021 Dec 5;58:103444. doi: 10.1016/j.msard.2021.103444. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34929452.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34929452/