title: Can hand dexterity predict the disability status of patients with multiple sclerosis?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is the most common disabling neurological disease. Hand dysfunction is one of the main complaints of patients with MS. The present study aimed to compare hand dexterity of MS patients with low Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores and healthy adults. It also sought to identify the predictors of disability status of patients with MS based on their manual dexterity and demographic characteristics.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this cross-sectional study, 60 (16 male/44 female) patients with MS and 60 (19 male/41 female) healthy people, who matched in terms of age and sex, were recruited. Their hand dexterity was evaluated by the Purdue Pegboard Test. The disability status of the MS group was determined by the Expanded Disability Status Scale. The data were analyzed using SPSS15.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The hand dexterity in MS group even with low EDSS score (1.5 ± 1.07) was weaker than control group. Moreover, the dexterity of dominant hand and alternating two hands coordination subtests of the PPT was a good discriminator between two groups (p<0.001). The results of linear regression analysis suggested dominant hand dexterity and disease duration as predictors of disability status that predict 60.5 per cent of the variation in EDSS scores in patients with MS (p<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Reduced dominant hand dexterity in patients with MS is a disabling factor. Further research is recommended to determine if early hand rehabilitation can reduce the severity of disability in Patients with MS.
authors.affiliation: MSc of occupational therapy, Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Maghandi1388@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Masoumeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghandi Dezfuli
authors.affiliation: Assistant professor, Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Akbarfahimi.m@iums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Malahat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akbarfahimi
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Shahed Medical University, Tehran, Iran. seyedmassoodnabavi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Seyed Massood
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Nabavi
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Mehraban.a@iums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Afsoon
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hassani Mehraban
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Optometry, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Ejafarzadehpure@iums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Ebrahim
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jafarzadehpur
keywords: Disability; Hand; Multiple sclerosis