Italian version of the Chicago multiscale depression inventory: translation, adaptation and testing in people with multiple sclerosis.

Depression is the commonest psychiatric disturbance in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), with prevalence higher than in the general population and other chronic diseases. However, accurate assessment of depressive symptoms can be biased by somatic symptoms which are part of both MS and depression. We translated and adapted into Italian the Chicago multiscale depression inventory (CMDI) and assessed its acceptability, internal consistency and test-retest reliability in 213 MS outpatients and 213 individually matched healthy controls. The questionnaire was also tested in 32 people with major depression. Acceptability, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability were good overall. We …

Effect of organizational features on patient satisfaction with care in Italian multiple sclerosis centres

Background and purpose Receiving clear, complete and up-to-date information and having a satisfying relationship with the health professional (HP) are of primary importance for MS patients. Healthcare organization plays a key role in promoting an effective relationship and communication between patients and HPs. The present study aims to explore which care organization and service characteristics provided by Italian MS centres best predict patients’ satisfaction with healthcare. Methods Eighty-one centres and 707 patients (502 women, mean age 40.5 years, SD 10.2; mean education 12.2 years, SD 3.6; time since diagnosis 5.9 years, SD 1.5) were included in the analysis. The care organization a…

Erratum to: ‘Home-based palliative approach for people with severe multiple sclerosis and their carers: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial’

Interobserver Agreement in the Diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis

• Interobserver agreement in the clinical diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) among six neurologists was evaluated. Three of them participated in a study of the clinical diagnosis of MS, the Italian Multicenter Study (IMS). The raters examined the clinical forms of MS of 50 patients randomly selected from among 430 patients recruited from the IMS. For each patient, neurologists were asked to make a diagnosis according to the McDonald-Halliday classification system of MS. The overall agreement on the diagnosis (MS present or absent) was fair, with no difference noted between the two groups of raters. Considering the six diagnostic levels instead, the reliability was higher for the neurologi…