PROBLEMS WITH RATING-SCALES FOR MULTIPLE-SCLEROSIS - A NOVEL-APPROACH- THE CAMBS SCORE

Current rating scales for multiple sclerosis are unsatisfactory becaus e they score each patient's condition without indicating the clinical context in which that score has been obtained. The Cambridge Multiple Sclerosis Basic Score (CAMBS) offers a solution to this problem by rec ording current status in the context of the clinical course. CAMBS dis tinguishes disability from handicap and indicates the independent cont ribution of relapse and progression to current clinical activity. Sing le scores of between 1 and 5 are assigned to each of these indices, gi ving a simple four component analysis for each clinical encounter, e.g . disability 3; relapse 1; progression 2, handicap 1.