The Reliability and Validity of Assessment of Sagittal Plane Deviations in Children Who Have Spastic Diplegia

• Published in: Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation Vol. 86; no. 12; pp. 2337 - 2341
• Main Authors: Stott, N. Susan, Atherton, W. Guy, Mackey, Anna H., Galley, Ian J., Nicol, Richard O., Walsh, Stewart J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.12.2005; Elsevier
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Biomechanical Phenomena; Cerebral palsy; Cerebral Palsy - diagnosis; Cerebral Palsy - rehabilitation; Child; Disability Evaluation; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Female; Gait; Headache. Facial pains. Syncopes. Epilepsia. Intracranial hypertension. Brain oedema. Cerebral palsy; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes); Nervous system as a whole; Neurology; Observer Variation; Outcome assessment (health care); Rehabilitation; Reproducibility of Results; Videotape Recording; Cerebral palsy; Rehabilitation; Gait; Videotape recording; Outcome assessment (health care); Knee; Pediatrics; Prognosis; Motor system disorder; Lower limb; Information use; Alignment; Resident(student); Kinematics; Classification; Resident; Hospital; Neurological disorder; Child; Human; Nervous system diseases; Diplegia; Surgeon; Cerebral disorder; Walking; Validity; Orthopedics; Central nervous system disease; Reliability
• ISSN: 0003-9993; 1532-821X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apmr.2005.06.021

Stott NS, Atherton WG, Mackey AH, Galley IJ, Nicol RO, Walsh SJ. The reliability and validity of assessment of sagittal plane deviations in children who have spastic diplegia. To assess the reliability and validity of a newly described classification of sagittal plane alignment in spastic diplegic gait. Twenty split-screen videos of children with spastic diplegia, Gross Motor Function Classification System levels I to III, were viewed on 2 occasions, 6 weeks apart, by 5 raters. The sagittal plane alignments of the right and left lower limbs in gait were classified separately as true equinus, jump knee, apparent equinus, or crouch, based on the published classification. A fifth category, nonclassifiable, was used if classification was not possible. We then used sagittal plane kinematic data to confirm the classification for each subject and these were compared with rater classification scores, which used the video information only. Tertiary-level children’s hospital. Three pediatric orthopedic surgeons and 2 pediatric orthopedic residents. Not applicable. Gait classification scores derived from visual observation were compared among and within raters. The gait classification scores derived from visual observation were compared with the scores derived from sagittal plane kinematic data to assess validity. A moderate correlation was found among the 5 raters within each session, with an interrater weighted κ score of .45 in session 1 and .49 in session 2. The intrarater, weighted κ scores showed a moderate to substantial level of agreement between sessions, ranging from .50 to .68. The classification scores of individual raters had moderate validity when compared with classifications derived from the sagittal plane kinematic data. However, there was a substantial level of agreement between the consensus opinion and the classification obtained using the kinematic data as well as the video recordings (weighted κ=0.8). This classification has only moderate reliability and validity when a single experienced rater views the 2-dimensional gait videos. However, the consensus opinion derived from the scores of 5 raters considerably improves the validity of the assessment.