Parkinson's Disease Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Parkinson's Disease, including details on symptoms, treatment, genetics, medication.

The AMC Linear Disability Score in patients with newly diagnosed Parkinson disease.

Weisscher N, Post B, de Haan RJ, Glas CA, Speelman JD, Vermeulen M

Department of Neurology, H2-236 Academic Medical Center, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands. n.weisscher@amc.uva.nl

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the clinimetric properties of the AMC Linear Disability Score (ALDS), a new generic disability measure based on Item Response Theory, in patients with newly diagnosed Parkinson disease (PD). METHODS: A sample of 132 patients with PD was evaluated using the Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y), the Unified PD Rating Scale motor examination, the Schwab and England scale (S&E), the Short Form-36, the PD Quality of Life Questionnaire, and the ALDS. RESULTS: The internal consistency reliability of the ALDS was good (alpha = 0.95) with 55 items extending the sufficient item-total correlation criterion (r > 0.20). The ALDS was correlated with other disability measures (r = 0.50 to 0.63) and decreasingly associated with measures reflecting impairments (r = 0.36 to 0.37) and mental health (r = 0.23 to -0.01). With regard to know-group validity, the ALDS indicated that patients with more severe PD (H&Y stage 3) were more disabled than patients with mild (H&Y stage 1) or moderate PD (H&Y stage 2) (p < 0.0001). The ALDS discriminated between more or less severe extrapyramidal symptoms (p = 0.001) and patients with postural instability showed lower ALDS scores compared to patients without postural instability (p = or< 0.0001). Compared to the S&E (score 100% = 19%), the ALDS showed less of a ceiling effect (5%). CONCLUSION: The AMC Linear Disability Score is a flexible, feasible, and clinimetrically promising instrument to assess the level of disability in patients with newly diagnosed Parkinson disease.

Published 6 December 2007 in Neurology, 69(23): 2155-61.
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