Reliability and validity of short Parkinson evaluation scale/scales for outcomes in Parkinson disease in evaluating the motor function of patients with Parkinson disease

Abstract

Aim: To assess the sports injury with short Parkinson evaluation scale/ scales for outcomes in Parkinson disease (SPES/SCOPA) in patients with Parkinson disease, analyze its reliability and validity. Methods: Sixty -eight patients with Parkinson disease were selected from the Department of Neurology, General Hospital of Tianjin Medical University from July to November 2005. The patients were evaluated with SPES/SCOPA and unified Parkinson disease rating scale (UPDRS) in the morning, and in the "on" phase, if fluctuating. The SPES/SCOPA scale contains 21 items in 3 sections: motor evaluation, activities of daily living, and motor complications. There are four response options ranging from 0 (normal) to 3 (severe). Cronbach's α coefficient and item-total correlation were adopted to assess the reliability. Construct validity was used to evaluate the validity of the scale. Results: All the subjec ts were involved in the analysis of results. (1) Cronbach's α was above 0.85 for every domain of the SPES/SCOPA scale. The internal consistencies of the SPES/SCOPA sections were higher than those of the UPDRS except for the motor evaluation. Rest tremor in the UPDRS had the lowest item-total correlation (0.10). Other items with item-total correlation below 0.30 involved sensory symptoms (0.12) in the UPDRS; rest tremor (0.25) and swallowing (0.29) in the SPES/SCOPA. (2) Correlations between the sections of the SPES/SCOPA and the subscores of the UPDRS ranged from 0.47 to 0.96. (3) Correlation between the SPES/SCOPA and the Hoehn, & Yahr scale was 0.89. One-way analysis of variance showed significant differences among patients grouped by their Hoehn & Yahr stage in the SPES/SCOPA. Tbe post-hoc t test showed that except for Hoehn & Yahr scale 1-1.5 stage (P=0.17), there were significant differences among the other stages (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The SPES/SCOPA is a reliable and valid scale that can adequately be used in clinical practice.