The reliability and utility of spasticity scales for patients with spinal cord injury / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the reliability of the modified Penn spasm frequency scale (MPSFS),the spinal cord assessment tool for spasticity (SCATS),the spinal cord injury spasticity evaluation tool (SCI-SET) and visual analogue scales (VASs) and their inter-correlation so as the provide evidence for clinical application.Methods The spasticity of thirty-five patients with spinal cord injury was assessed by 2 raters using the 4 scales with an interval of half an hour between assessments.Three days later,all of the subjects were again evaluated by one of the 2 raters in the same environment.The intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC),standard error of measurement (SEM) and minimal detectable difference (MDD95) were calculated,and the correlations among the 4 scales were analyzed.Results The test-retest ICC for the MPSFS was 0.94 and the inter-rater reliability ICC was 0.90.For the SCATS they were 0.948 and 0.939 respectively.,For the VAS they were 0.962 and 0.974,and for the SCI-SET they were 0.969 and 0.989.There was significant inter-correlation among all four scales,with negative correlation between the SCI-SET and the others.The observed correlations were all of medium strength (r=-0.421 to-0.5),except for a high correlation between the SCI-SET and VAS results (r=0.55 to 0.94).Conclusion The MPSFS,SCATS,VAS and SCI-SET are all reliable tools for evaluating spasticity among people with spinal cord injury.All can be applied in clinical practice.