title: The brief neuropsychological battery for children: a screening tool for cognitive impairment in childhood and juvenile multiple sclerosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A critical problem with neuropsychological assessment in children and adolescents with multiple sclerosis (MS) is the absence of a standardized, well-validated neuropsychological battery specifically tailored for detecting disease-related cognitive problems in this age range.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To develop a Brief Neuropsychological Battery for Children (BNBC) with MS.
  
  
  METHODS
  We assessed cognitive functions in 61 patients with childhood and juvenile MS and 58 demographically matched healthy controls through an extensive neuropsychological battery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In MS patients, we found a proportion of cognitive impairment of 41%. In the BNBC, we included the tests with higher discriminating ability (the Selective Reminding Test, the Symbol Digit Modalities Test, the Trail Making Test, and the Vocabulary test from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for children). The BNBC yielded a sensitivity of 96% and a specificity of 76%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings provide preliminary evidence of the usefulness of the BNBC as a screening tool for detecting cognitive impairment in childhood and juvenile MS cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy. portilio@tin.it
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Portaccio
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Goretti
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lori
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zipoli
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Centorrino
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghezzi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Patti
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bianchi
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Comi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trojano
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Amato