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. 2021 Jun;36(6):1392-1400.
doi: 10.1002/mds.28507. Epub 2021 Feb 15.

Non-Motor Fluctuations in Parkinson's Disease: Validation of the Non-Motor Fluctuation Assessment Questionnaire

Galit Kleiner  1   2 , Hubert H Fernandez  3 , Kelvin L Chou  4 , Alfonso Fasano  5   6 , Kevin R Duque  7 , Diana Hengartner  3 , Albie Law  1   2 , Adam Margolius  3 , Yu-Yan Poon  5 , Michel Sáenz Farret  5 , Philip Saleh  1   2 , Joaquin A Vizcarra  7 , Glenn T Stebbins  8 , Alberto J Espay  7 ; PSG NoMoFA Study Group
Affiliations
Free article

Non-Motor Fluctuations in Parkinson's Disease: Validation of the Non-Motor Fluctuation Assessment Questionnaire

Galit Kleiner et al. Mov Disord. 2021 Jun.
Free article

Abstract

Background: In patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), sleep, mood, cognitive, autonomic, and other non-motor symptoms may fluctuate in a manner similar to motor symptoms.

Objectives: To validate a final version of a patient-rated questionnaire that captures the presence and severity of non-motor fluctuations in levodopa-treated PD patients (NoMoFA).

Methods: We recruited PD subjects from five movement disorders centers across the US and Canada. We assessed the internal consistency, floor and ceiling effects, test-retest reliability, and concurrent validity of NoMoFA. Classical test theory and item response theory methods informed item reduction and Delphi process yielded a final questionnaire.

Results: Two hundred subjects and their care-partners participated in the study (age: 66.4 ± 9.6 years; disease duration: 9 ± 5.5 years; median Hoehn and Yahr [H&Y] OFF: 3 [range 1-5]; mean Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) III ON score: 27.4 ± 14.9). Acceptability of the scale was adequate. There were floor effects in 8/28 items. Cronbach's alpha was 0.894. While eight items had "item-to-total" correlations below the cutoff of 0.4, removing these items did not improve Cronbach's alpha. Test-retest reliability was acceptable (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] 0.73; 95% confidence interval, 0.64-0.80). Concurrent validity was adequate with all Spearman's rho values comparing NoMoFA score to other measures of parkinsonian severity showing significance and in the expected direction. A final Delphi panel eliminated one item to avoid redundancy.

Conclusions: The final 27-item self-administered NoMoFA is a valid and reliable questionnaire, capturing both static and fluctuating non-motor symptoms in PD. © 2021 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Keywords: Parkinson's disease; non-motor fluctuations; non-motor symptoms; questionnaire; validation.

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References

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