Movement Disorder-Childhood Rating Scale: Reliability and Validity

Movement Disorder-Childhood Rating Scale: A Sensitive Tool to Evaluate Movement Disorders

“…5 In a previous preliminary study of 14 dystonic patients (six aged 0-3 years and eight aged 4-18 years) during specific pharmacological treatment for movement disorders 6,7 and in a complete study in patients affected by dyskinetic cerebral palsy treated with anticholinergic drugs we already demonstrated the responsiveness of MD-CRS. 10 In this study, we had further demonstrated the utility of the MD-CRS in a larger group, including 68 children affected by various movement disorders of different etiologies at the time of starting treatment with oral drugs specific for the movement disease diagnosed.…”

“…On the basis of the Global Index, a Global Class was obtained in each patient, according to the ranges previously described. 6,7 All assessments were recorded on video of an average duration of 25 minutes; the videotapes collected in all patients were independently rated by three clinicians with significant experience in the field of movement disorders; if different score were obtained, the results were discussed to achieve a consensus on the score. Five percent of the scores (about 10 patients) were evaluated again to achieve agreement; overall, the interrater reliability was very high (MD-CRS 0-3: 0.95-0.98; MD-CRS 4-18: 0.96-0.99) in line with the data already published.…”

“…Five percent of the scores (about 10 patients) were evaluated again to achieve agreement; overall, the interrater reliability was very high (MD-CRS 0-3: 0.95-0.98; MD-CRS 4-18: 0.96-0.99) in line with the data already published. 6,7 The study was approved by the Ethical Committee of IRCCS Stella Maris and informed written consent for treatment was obtained from the parents of each patient, with particular attention to drugs used for off-label treatment either for age or for type of disease.…”

“…Clinical presentation, outcome, and management of many of these neurological disorders in children differ substantially from adults, so there has been the need to develop rating scales specifically designed for children affected by dyskinetic cerebral palsy 5 and by movement disorders resulting from various neurological causes. 6,7 The Movement Disorder-Childhood Rating Scale (MD-CRS) is a scale created in 2008-2009 at Istituto Di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) Stella Maris to evaluate the influence of various movement disorders on daily living activities, motor function, and the effect on the development of children and adolescents; it is divided in two forms, one for age 4-18 years 7 and another for the first 3 years of life 6 (see Appendix 1 and 2 in supplementary material).…”

“…6,7 Other authors have assessed changes following L-DOPA treatment in a patient affected by nonprogressive chorea 8 and have evaluated the clinical response during specific treatment in a study using EPI-743 in 10 patients aged 1-13 years affected by Leigh syndrome and other mitochondrial diseases. 9 More recently, our group reported our experience of MD-CRS assessment in patients affected by dyskinetic cerebral palsy treated with anticholinergic drug for one year, 10 confirming the MD-CRS as a sensitive tool to detect changes and as a possible outcome measure during natural history data collection or during clinical trials in children with movement disorders.…”