Understanding Neurological Rating Scales
Challenges in measuring MS progression
Ideally, rating scales should provide accurate information on disease progression. This is a lot to ask for a disease as complex as MS where symptoms do not always correspond to more objective measures of disease activity, such as MRI scans.
MS poses several unique challenges that affect the reliability of neurological rating scales:
• no two patients with MS experience exactly the same symptoms at equivalent stages of the disease
• patients often describe the same symptoms in different ways
• the severity of symptoms can vary from week to week, day to day, and even from one part of the day to another
• other factors, both emotional and physical, can affect the way a patient feels at the time of clinical examination.
