Validation of the Sydney Language Battery naming subtest and utility of latency analysis in characterizing language impairment in multiple sclerosis.

BACKGROUND

Language deficits are frequently described by patients with multiple sclerosis (MS); however, objective characterization remains somewhat limited due to its omission from standard MS cognitive evaluation and the inconsistent findings that arise from current language measures.

OBJECTIVE

To establish alternative approaches to characterizing single-word level language in MS, this study (i) validates the Sydney Language Battery (SYDBAT) visual confrontation naming subtest and (ii) examines the insights provided by examining naming errors and latencies.

METHODS

40 MS patients from Royal Melbourne Hospital's Cognitive Neuroimmunology Clinic and 40 matched controls completed a series of neuropsychological tests, including the SYDBAT and 'gold standard' confrontation naming task, the Boston Naming Test (BNT). Error types and latencies on the SYDBAT were extracted from assessment audio recordings.

RESULTS

SYDBAT and BNT scores were highly correlated (r = 0.81, p < .001) and these tasks reported comparable receiver operating characteristic curves (p = .091). Latency analysis captured lexical retrieval difficulties, with patients displaying significantly longer mean latencies than controls on the SYDBAT (p = .012, β = 0.54).

CONCLUSIONS

These findings support the validity of the SYDBAT and value of the latency analysis in characterizing language impairment in MS. Use of the SYDBAT and latency considerations contribute to a broader assessment with a briefer administration time compared to gold-standard evaluation. The study thereby offers clinicians an enhanced toolkit to more effectively and appropriately evaluate language functioning and supplement standard cognitive evaluation in this population.