This Article Full Text (OnlineFirst PDF) All Versions of this Article: 1545968308331144v1 23/5/429    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Lin, K.-c. Articles by Liu, J.-s. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Lin, K.-c. Articles by Liu, J.-s. Pubmed/NCBI databases Medline Plus Health Information Stroke Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Minimal Detectable Change and Clinically Important Difference of the Wolf Motor Function Test in Stroke Patients

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: cywu{at}mail.cgu.edu.tw.

	Abstract

Objectives. This study aimed to establish the minimal detectable change (MDC) and clinically important differences (CID) of the Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT) in patients with stroke, and to assess the proportions of patients’ change scores exceeding the MDC and CID after stroke rehabilitation. Methods. A total of 57 patients received 1 of the 3 treatments for 3 weeks and underwent clinical assessments before and after treatment. The MDC, at 90% confidence (MDC₉₀), was calculated from the standard error of measurement to indicate a real change for individual patients. Anchor-based and distribution-based approaches were used to triangulate the values of minimal CID. The percentages of patients exceeding the MDC and minimal CID were also examined. Results. The MDC₉₀of the WMFT was 4.36 for the performance time (WMFT time) and 0.37 for the functional ability scale (WMFT FAS). The minimal CID ranged from 1.5 to 2 seconds on the WMFT time and from 0.2 to 0.4 points on the WMFT FAS. The MDC and CID proportions ranged from 14% to 30% on the WMFT time and from 39% to 65% on the WMFT FAS, respectively. Conclusions. The change score of an individual patient has to reach 4.36 and 0.37 on the WMFT time and WMFT FAS to indicate a real change. The mean change scores of a stroke group on the WMFT time and WMFT FAS should achieve 1.5 to 2 seconds and 0.2 to 0.4 points to be regarded as clinically important changes. Furthermore, the WMFT FAS may be more responsive than the WMFT time based on the results of proportions exceeding the threshold criteria.

First published on March 16, 2009, doi:10.1177/1545968308331144

Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair 2009;23:429.

A more recent version of this article appeared on June 1, 2009


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?