How MS Disability Is Measured - Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Information, and resources

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Multiple sclerosis progression varies from person to person. And, the various MS types of disease progress in different ways, too. Scans and other multiple sclerosis tests don’t always tell the whole story about MS disability; signs and symptoms and how well you are functioning each day — from seeing to moving to thinking — are also important measures of how well your central nervous system is working.

That’s why a variety of tools are useful in assessing multiple sclerosis disability. These help you and your doctor gauge whether your MS is improving, progressing, or staying about the same. Doctors also use these measures in clinical studies. This helps to see how well multiple sclerosis treatment is working.

A trained examiner, often a neurologist, administers tests that help create scales like the ones below. These can provide a kind of snapshot of your MS progression.

MS Progression: Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS)

This commonly used scale is sometimes called the Kurtzke scale, named for the neurologist who developed it. The EDSS focuses mainly on your ability to walk. It is a less sensitive measure of other types of multiple sclerosis disability. It takes about 30 minutes to create a score. Then a few minutes are needed to establish the ratings in the EDSS scale.

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MS Progression: Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS)

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