MDS Non-Motor Rating Scale (MDS-NMS)

The MDS-NMS is a revision of the Non-Motor Symptoms Scale (NMSS) and was developed to improve and refine the assessment of non-motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease (PD). This rater-completed assessment measures frequency and severity of 13 non-motor domains, over 52 items and covers a range of key non-motor symptoms both PD and treatment related, and in greater depth, compared with the NMSS. The scale also has a new MDS-NMS Non-Motor Fluctuations (NMF) Subscale to assess changes in non-motor symptoms in relation to the timing of anti-parkinsonian medications across 8 domains.

This scale is expected to be useful in clinical care and research, including trials of investigational medicinal products related to PD. The MDS-NMS is a valid and reliable rating scale that measures the burden of non-motor symptoms, including non-motor fluctuations, in PD patients.

Authors: K. Ray Chaudhuri, Anette Schrag, Daniel Weintraub, Alexandra Rizos, Carmen Rodriguez-Blazquez, Eugenia Mamikonyan and Pablo Martinez-Martin

Original Publication │View the Scale (PDF)

• Acronym: MDS-NMS
• Year Published: 2019
• Estimated Time to Complete: The estimated time for completion of the scale is 15-40 minutes, depending on the status of patient and number of non-motor symptoms present.
• Assessment Type: ClinRO

 Available translations: 10+ languages

  Eletronic builds: REDCap, HTML

Available Translations:

• Arabic
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In Progress:

The following translations have completed Cognitive Pre-testing. For more information about the Translation Program, please reference our Protocol for Official Non-English Language Translations.  Please contact ratingscales@movementdisorders.org for more information.

• Dutch
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• Swedish