Frontiers in neurology
How reliable are clinical balance and ataxia scales in healthy children aged 4-12 years? An inter-rater reliability and construct validity study of the PBS, SARA, and BARS
By Arslan EA, Gültekin E, Umut GU and 4 others.
Abstract
Background
No study has evaluated the Pediatric Balance Scale (PBS), the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA), and the Brief Ataxia Rating Scale (BARS) together in a healthy pediatric sample.
Objective
This study aimed to determine the inter-rater reliability, measurement error, and construct validity of the PBS, SARA, and BARS in healthy children aged 4-12 years and to compare scores between physiotherapists and pediatric neurologists.
Methods
Thirty-four healthy children (18 girls and 16 boys; mean age 8.2 ± 1.8 years) were each scored from standardized video recordings by five independent, mutually blinded raters (two physiotherapists and three pediatric neurologists). Inter-rater reliability was quantified using two-way random-effects and absolute-agreement intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs), reported as single-rater [ICC (2,1)] and average-of-five-raters [ICC (2, k)] measures. Standard error of measurement (SEM), minimal detectable change (MDC95), Cronbach's α, Bland-Altman agreement, Spearman inter-scale correlations, and Kruskal-Wallis tests of rater differences were calculated.