Primary objective: The cognitive profile of patients with Multiple Sclerosis in the Brazilian population is relatively unknown and no cognitive screening instruments have been developed for this population. The purpose of the present study was to develop a neuropsychological screening instrument battery to identify cognitive impairment in epidemiological research 15 protocols in this country. Methods and procedures: Fifty-four patients with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RRMS) and 54

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... ntrols matched by sex, age and educational level were evaluated through a long and comprehensive neuropsychological test battery. Main outcomes and results: In comparison to the control group, 51.8% of the patients with RRMS presented some form of cognitive impairment. Three neuropsychological tests-Verbal Fluency, Rey Auditory Verbal Learning and Enhanced Cued 20 Recall-presented an 80.6% sensitivity and 97.2% specificity in differentiating RRMS patients with cognitive deficits from paired control subjects. Conclusions: These three tests constitute a Brief Battery that represents a first Brazilian MS cognitive screening instrument. However, further validation study is necessary to achieve better normative scores in a larger sample and to establish feasibility of this battery. 25