Background: Neurostatus-Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) is the standard measure used to assess impairment and disability in multiple sclerosis (MS) trials but requires trained expert neurologists.
Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the concordance of Neurostatus-EDSS assessments from specially trained health care professionals (HCPs) and standardized trained neurologists.
Methods: A Swiss multicenter, randomized, cross-over study with 100 people with MS. HCPs were trained to assess the Neurostatus-EDSS based on the newly developed SMARTCARE-EDSS training method.
Results: The concordance rate between HCPs and neurologists was 0.87 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.815-0.925).
Conclusion: Trained HCPs can reliably perform Neurostatus-EDSS assessments, supporting broader implementation and improved trial access.
Keywords: EDSS; Multiple sclerosis; clinical trials; decentralized trials; health care professionals.