Study on the reliability and validity of the 66-item version on the gross motor function measure in 0-3 year olds with cerebral palsy / 中华流行病学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To examine the reliability and validity of the 66-item version on the gross motor function measure (GMFM-66) to assess the gross motor functions of children below 3 years oldwith cerebral palsy.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>298 valid samples were obtained from 171 children with cerebral palsy (male 126, female 45 with mean age 19 months, age range 3-36 months) measured with GMFM-88. Then a 73-item version of GMFM (GMFM-73) special for these children was obtained by Rasch analysis. Both GMFM-66 and GMFM-73 scores of to each sample were obtained. The reliability and validity of GMFM-66 were evaluated through analyzing the correlation between the scores and between the changed scores of these two GMFM versions. The relative precision of GMFM-73 versus GMFM-66 was also analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Significant correlations were found between the scores and between the changed scores of these two versions of GMFM. A 14% less gain in relative precision was achieved when using GMFM-73 versus GMFM-66.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Results indicated that the GMFM-66 had good reliability and validity in assessing the gross motor functions of children below 3 years old with cerebral palsy.</p>