Assessments of the reliability of the Iranian version of the Berg Balance Scale in patients with multiple sclerosis.

PURPOSE Because of the balance limitations in many patients, balance assessment is necessary for multiple sclerosis patients in rehabilitation settings. The aim of this study was to investigate the Interrater reliability and the internal consistency of the Iranian version of the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) when applied to patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) in Tehran. METHODS Fifty MS patients (with mean age of 36.6±9.5 years) from Hospitals of the Iran University of Medical Sciences and MS Society of Iran were included. Interrater reliability was measured with the Kappa statistics and Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICCs). RESULTS The mean values of the BBS scored by the 2 evaluators were 37.7 ±12.9 and 38.l ± 12.3, respectively. Kappa scores for BBS varied from 0.7 to 1.0 Intraclass correlation coefficient for the BBS's sum score was excellent (ICC=0.99 with 95% confidence interval, 0.98-0.99). An excellent internal consistency was found within the BBS's sum score (Cronbach Alpha =0.9). The item -to -total correlations for all items were higher than 0.6. CONCLUSION The Iranian version of the BBS has excellent interrater reliability and internal consistency for the assessment of MS patients when applied in clinics.

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