Cognitive Assessment scale for Stroke Patients (CASP): a multicentric validation study.

The Mini Mental State Examination and Montreal Cognitive Assessment are commonly used as short screening batteries for assessing cognitive impairment after stroke. However, aphasia or hemispatial neglect may interfere with the results. For this reason, we developed the Cognitive Assessment scale for Stroke Patients (CASP), which takes these conditions into consideration and previously demonstrated its superiority over these scales in terms of feasibility. Our goal was to verify the psychometric properties of the (original) French version of the CASP. We included 201 patients with a recent first hemispheric stroke and 50 controls. Stroke patients were examined 4 times (visit 1 [V1] to visit 4 [V4]) in the subacute post-stroke phase. The structural validity of the CASP was studied by principal factorial analysis, convergent validity by comparison with several variables including a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment, divergent validity by comparison with the total score between stroke patients and controls, and sub-scores between right and left stroke. Internal consistency, reproducibility and sensitivity to change were assessed. We propose the Minimal Clinically Important Difference (MCID) value and a pathological threshold as well as a threshold to predict cognitive change between V1 and V4. Of the 201 participants included (63% male; mean [SD] age 63 [13] years), CASP data were available for 199/150/133/93 at V1/V2/V3/V4, respectively. CASP has a one-dimensional structure. The hypotheses of convergent/divergent validities were confirmed. Internal consistency was good and reliability excellent. Responsiveness was small to moderate, but the MCID could still be estimated. We discuss the choice of a pathological threshold and a predictive threshold of V1 over V4. CASP has good psychometric properties for screening cognitive impairment in the subacute post-stroke phase, which is consistent with its Italian and Korean versions. It can be used for patients with severe motor aphasia or left hemispatial neglect but not in case of severe oral comprehension or visual impairment

The Cognitive Assessment scale for Stroke Patients (CASP) vs. MMSE and MoCA in non-aphasic hemispheric stroke patients

International audienceCASP specifically assesses post-stroke cognitive impairments. Its items are visual and as such can be administered to patients with severe expressive aphasia. We have previously shown that the CASP was more suitable than the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) in aphasic patients. Our objective was to compare the above scales in non-aphasic stroke patients, and assess to what extent the solely visual items of the CASP were problematic in cases of neurovisual impairments.METHODS:Fifty non-aphasic patients admitted to Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) units after a recent left- or right-hemisphere stroke were evaluated with the CASP, MMSE and MoCA. We compared these three scales in terms of feasibility, concordance, and influence of neurovisual impairments on the total score.RESULTS:Twenty-nine men and 21 women were included (mean age 63 ± 14). For three patients, the MoCa was impossible to administer. It took significantly less time to administer the CASP (10 ± 5 min) than the MoCA (11 ± 5 min, P=0.02), yet it still took more time than MMSE administration (7 ± 3 min, P<10(-6)). Neurovisual impairments affected equally the total scores of the three tests. Concordance between these scores was poor and only the CASP could specifically assess unilateral spatial neglect.CONCLUSION:The sole visual format of the CASP scale seems suitable for administration in post-stroke patients.Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved