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Multicenter Study
. 2015 Jul;30(8):1139-43.
doi: 10.1002/mds.26271. Epub 2015 Jun 11.

Proposing a Parkinson's disease-specific tremor scale from the MDS-UPDRS

Maria João Forjaz  1 , Alba Ayala  2 , Claudia M Testa  3 , Peter G Bain  4 , Rodger Elble  5 , Dietrich Haubenberger  6 , Carmen Rodriguez-Blazquez  7 , Günther Deuschl  8 , Pablo Martinez-Martin  7 ; International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society Tremor Rating Scale Task Force
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Free article
Multicenter Study

Proposing a Parkinson's disease-specific tremor scale from the MDS-UPDRS

Maria João Forjaz et al. Mov Disord. 2015 Jul.
Free article

Abstract

Background: This article proposes an International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society (MDS)-UPDRS tremor-based scale and describes its measurement properties, with a view to developing an improved scale for assessing tremor in Parkinson's disease (PD).

Methods: This was a cross-sectional, multicenter study of 435 PD patients. Rasch analysis was performed on the 11 MDS-UPDRS tremor items. Construct validity, precision, and test-retest reliability were also analyzed.

Results: After some modifications, which included removal of an item owing to redundancy, the obtained MDS-UPDRS tremor scale showed moderate reliability, unidimensionality, absence of differential item functioning, satisfactory convergent validity with medication, and better precision than the raw sum score. However, the scale displayed a floor effect and a need for more items measuring lower levels of tremor.

Conclusions: The MDS-UPDRS tremor scale provides linear scores that can be used to assess tremor in PD in a valid, reliable way. The scale might benefit from modifications and studies that analyze its responsiveness.

Keywords: MDS-UPDRS; Parkinson's disease; Rasch analysis; tremor.

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