The ABILHAND‐23 Patient Reported Outcome Measure in Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis: A Cross‐Sectional Analysis With the Nine Hole Peg Test

Background People with progressive multiple sclerosis (pwPMS), who typically have established lower limb dysfunction, experience greater disability from upper limb dysfunction (ULD). The 9‐hole peg test (9HPT) is the primary clinical measure for ULD but does not fully capture the patient experience. The ABILHAND‐23 is a well‐validated patient‐reported outcome measure (PROM) that evaluates bimanual ability in daily function. However, no large‐scale studies have assessed if the 9HPT reflects the individual ULD experience in pwPMS. Objectives We sought to (van Munster et al. 2023) assess the associations between the ABILHAND‐23 and 9HPT, and (Huertas‐Hoyas et al. 2020) to assess the ability of the 9HPT and other relevant covariables to predict ABILHAND‐23 scores, using baseline data from the MS‐STAT2 trial, a phase 3 study on simvastatin for secondary progressive MS (SPMS). Methods A cross‐sectional analysis of baseline data from the UCLH cohort of the MS‐STAT2 trial was performed using multiple linear regression to predict ABILHAND‐23 logit scores by 9HPT. Results 225 participants were analyzed. ABILHAND‐23 scores moderately correlated with the 9HPT (rho = 0.47). Regression analysis showed that better 9HPT performance modestly predicted ABILHAND‐23 logits (β = –0.05, SE 0.008, p ‐value < 0.001). Conclusion The 9HPT only modestly predicts the ABILHAND‐23 but does not fully capture the individual's daily disability experience, underscoring the value of patient‐reported outcome measures (PROMs) like the ABILHAND‐23 in clinical trials.