TY - JOUR
T1 - Utilising accessible and reproducible neurological assessments in clinical studies
T2 - Insights from use of the Neurological Impairment Scale in the multi-centre COVID-CNS study
AU - (on Behalf of the COVID-CNS Group)
AU - Alam, Ali M.
AU - Webb, Glynn W.
AU - Collie, Ceryce
AU - Mariathasan, Sashini
AU - Huang, Yun
AU - Hilton, Orla
AU - Shil, Rajish
AU - Dodd, Katherine C.
AU - Lilleker, James B.
AU - Smith, Craig J.
AU - Easton, Ava
AU - Tamborska, Arina
AU - Thomas, Rhys H.
AU - Davies, Nicholas W.S.
AU - Jenkins, Thomas M.
AU - Zandi, Michael
AU - Benjamin, Laura
AU - Ellul, Mark A.
AU - Solomon, Tom
AU - Pollak, Thomas A.
AU - Nicholson, Tim
AU - Breen, Gerome
AU - van Wamelen, Daniel J.
AU - Wood, Nicholas W.
AU - Michael, Benedict D.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024
PY - 2024/9
Y1 - 2024/9
N2 - Reproducible and standardised neurological assessment scales are important in quantifying research outcomes. These scales are often performed by non-neurologists and/or non-clinicians and must be robust, quantifiable, reproducible and comparable to a neurologist's assessment. COVID-CNS is a multi-centre study which utilised the Neurological Impairment Scale (NIS) as a core assessment tool in studying neurological outcomes following COVID-19 infection. We investigated the strengths and weaknesses of the NIS when used by non-neurology clinicians and non-clinicians, and compared performance to a structured neurological examination performed by a neurology clinician. Through our findings, we provide practical advice on how non-clinicians can be readily trained in conducting reproducible and standardised neurological assessments in a multi-centre study, as well as illustrating potential pitfalls of these tools.
AB - Reproducible and standardised neurological assessment scales are important in quantifying research outcomes. These scales are often performed by non-neurologists and/or non-clinicians and must be robust, quantifiable, reproducible and comparable to a neurologist's assessment. COVID-CNS is a multi-centre study which utilised the Neurological Impairment Scale (NIS) as a core assessment tool in studying neurological outcomes following COVID-19 infection. We investigated the strengths and weaknesses of the NIS when used by non-neurology clinicians and non-clinicians, and compared performance to a structured neurological examination performed by a neurology clinician. Through our findings, we provide practical advice on how non-clinicians can be readily trained in conducting reproducible and standardised neurological assessments in a multi-centre study, as well as illustrating potential pitfalls of these tools.
KW - Clinical study
KW - COVID-19
KW - Neurological assessment
KW - Neurology
KW - Outcome tool
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85203813604&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.clinme.2024.100241
DO - 10.1016/j.clinme.2024.100241
M3 - Article
C2 - 39244036
AN - SCOPUS:85203813604
SN - 1470-2118
VL - 24
JO - Clinical Medicine, Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London
JF - Clinical Medicine, Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London
IS - 5
M1 - 100241
ER -