Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2004 Mar-Apr;26(2):147-52
de Jonge P, Hoogervorst EL, Huyse FJ, Polman CH.
Department of Neurology, VU Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
p.de.jonge@med.rug.nl
The 1-year temporal stability of the INTERMED in a sample of patients with relatively stable care needs, patients with established Multiple Sclerosis (MS) was analyzed.
Seventy MS patients underwent an interview to assess the INTERMED by a trained nurse, and two examinations of disability, EDSS and GNDS by medical doctors.
At the following appointment with the nurse, approximately 1 year later, a second INTERMED assessment was done.
Spearman correlations and change scores between the INTERMED assessments were calculated.
Correlations between the two assessments were considerable: 0.75 for the total score and 0.55-0.74 for the domain scores (all P <.05).
Median change of all four INTERMED domain scores and total score were 0.
Changes in INTERMED total scores tended to be associated with changes in EDSS scores over time (P = 0.09), but not with changes in GNDS scores (P = 0.67).
Patients with INTERMED scores above 20 on at least one of the two assessments had longer disease duration (P < 0.01), were more frequently suffering from a chronic form of MS (P < 0.01), and had more disability on EDSS (P < 0.01) and GNDS (P < 0.01) assessments.
In a sample of patients with an established diagnosis of MS, INTERMED scores remained fairly stable over the period of a year.
Implementing the INTERMED in routine care of patients with chronic conditions may help the clinician to structure interdisciplinary care.