Objective: To compare the performance of the Movement Disorders Society – Non-Motor Rating Scale (MDS-NMS) and its predecessor, the Non-Motor Symptoms Scale (NMSS).

Background: The NMSS was the first comprehensive assessment for non-motor symptoms (NMS) in Parkinson disease (PD). The MDS-NMS has been recently developed based on the original NMSS, literature review, and expert consensus, to expand and refine the assessment of NMS.

Method: Multi-center, cross-sectional study to validate MDS-NMS in a sample of 402 PD patients recruited from movement disorders clinics in UK and US. Data on socio-demographic characteristics and PD treatment were obtained. The MDS-NMS was administered together along with the NMSS. Frequency of NMS (i.e., scores >0) by items and domains, mean and standard deviation (SD), comparison of scores in the sample grouped by age, sex, PD duration, Hoehn and Yahr stage (HY), and levodopa-equivalent daily dose (LEDD) were calculated.

Results: The sample (62.2% men) had mean age of 67.42 years old (SD: 9.96), PD duration of 8.2 years (SD: 5.93), and mainly HY stage 2 (54.5%). Mean total scores were: MDS-NMS, 79.33 (SD: 65.87, range: 0-334) and NMSS, 41.39 (SD: 35.2, range: 0-197). Most prevalent MDS-NMS domains were K. Sleep & Wakefulness (86.5%) and F. Cognition and M. Other (both, 80.1%). For NMSS, most prevalent domains were 2. Sleep/fatigue (79.9%) and 7. Urinary (73.3%). MDS-NMS items L1. Muscle/joint/back pain (67.5%) and F1. Difficulty remembering things (59.2%), and NMSS items 28. Change in ability to taste/smell (54.7%) and 17. Forgetting things (52.5%) were the most prevalent individual symptoms. Neither MDS-NMS nor NMSS total scores showed significant differences by sex or age groups, but both increased with increasing PD duration and LEDD (p<0.001). Most MDS-NMS and NMSS domains scores also increased with increasing HY stages (p<0.01).

Conclusion: Due to the inherent similarities, there are overlapping attributes of the MDS-NMS and NMSS (e.g., score distribution by groups), but differences are also evident (e.g., in frequency of individual NMS) because of their structural dissimilarities.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/comparison-between-the-movement-disorders-society-non-motor-rating-scale-mds-nms-and-the-non-motor-symptoms-scale-nmss/