Utilization of the auditory consonant trigram test to screen for cognitive impairment in patients with multiple sclerosis: comparison with the paced auditory serial addition test

Several screening methods have been evaluated, but most of them are insensitive to MS-related cognitive impairment. The Auditory Consonant Trigram (ACT) test, which contains core features required for a working memory task, has been used to test neuro-cognitive function in different samples of patients to examine the status of working memory. The aim of the present study was to investigate the correlation between ACT and the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT), and the usefulness of ACT for evaluating the cognitive impairment in MS in a brief visit. A total of 109 consecutive patients with definite MS were included. The patients were administered ACT, PASAT and EDSS. Mean PASAT score and mean ACT score were 46.19+/-8.51 and 45.30+/-9.07, respectively. Correlations between EDSS and PASAT, and EDSS and ACT were moderately strong. The correlation between ACT and PASAT was very strong (r=0.831, P