On the reliability of examining dual-tasking abilities using a novel e-Health device – a proof of concept study in Multiple Sclerosis

The assessment of neuropsychological functions and especially dual-tasking abilities is considered to be increasingly relevant in the assessment of neurological disease and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in particular. Yet, the assessment of dual-tasking abilities is hindered by specific software requirements and extensive testing times. We designed a novel e-health (progressive web application-based) device for the assessment of dual-tasking abilities usable in “bedside” and outpatient clinic settings and examined its reliability in a sample of N=184 MS patients in an outpatient setting. Moreover, we examined the relevance of dual-tasking assessment using this device with respect to clinically relevant parameters in MS. We show that a meaningful assessment of dual-tasking is possible within 6 minutes and that reliabilities of the behavioral readouts ranged between .81 to .92 depending on dual-tasking difficulty. We show that dual-tasking readouts were correlated with clinically relevant parameters (e.g. EDSS, disease duration, processing speed) and were not affected by fatigue levels. We consider the tested dual-tasking assessment device suitable for routine clinical neuropsychological assessments of dual-tasking abilities. Future studies may further evaluate this test regarding its suitability in the long-term follow up assessments and to assess dual-tasking abilities in other neurological and psychiatric disorders

Limited Time from the Diabetes Patients’ Perspective: Need for Conversation with the Eye Specialist

Purpose: Facing the lack of time, busy retina consultants should be aware of how the patients would prefer that time is spent and whether they wish the specialist to talk more at the expense of other medical activities. Methods: 810 persons with diabetes were asked to divide the time of 10 min between examination, consultation and treatment when envisioning a real-life scenario of diabetic retinopathy (NCT02311504). Results: With the increasing duration of diabetes, patients wanted significantly more time for diagnostics (p = 0.028), while age was found to be associated with less time for treatment (p = 0.009). Female subjects tended to prefer only little more time for talking (p = 0.051) in comparison with males, who slightly favored therapy (p = 0.025). Conclusions: The large majority recognized the need for diagnostics in their allocation of time. If individual patients are confronted with the health care perspective of time constraints, this might improve the understanding of prioritization

On the Reliability of Examining Dual-Tasking Abilities Using a Novel E-Health Device—A Proof of Concept Study in Multiple Sclerosis

The assessment of neuropsychological functions and especially dual-tasking abilities is considered to be increasingly relevant in the assessment of neurological disease, and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in particular. However, the assessment of dual-tasking abilities is hindered by specific software requirements and extensive testing times. We designed a novel e-health (progressive web application-based) device for the assessment of dual-tasking abilities usable in “bedside” and outpatient clinic settings and examined its reliability in a sample of N = 184 MS patients in an outpatient setting. Moreover, we examined the relevance of dual-tasking assessment using this device with respect to clinically relevant parameters in MS. We show that a meaningful assessment of dual-tasking is possible within 6 min and that the behavioral readouts overall show good reliability depending on dual-tasking difficulty. We show that dual-tasking readouts were correlated with clinically relevant parameters (e.g., EDSS, disease duration, processing speed) and were not affected by fatigue levels. We consider the tested dual-tasking assessment device suitable for routine clinical neuropsychological assessments of dual-tasking abilities. Future studies may further evaluate this test regarding its suitability in the long-term follow up assessments and to assess dual-tasking abilities in other neurological and psychiatric disorders

Additional file 1 of Patients’ preferences for involvement in the decision-making process for treating diabetic retinopathy

Fig. S1. Age distribution of the decision-making groups: The percentage of the ODM group is increasing with rising age, coincidently with decreasing values for the SDM group. (TIFF 65 kb