The Dyskinesia Impairment Scale, Second Edition: Development, construct validity, and reliability

Abstract

Dystonia is a movement disorder in which involuntary sustained or intermittent muscle contractions cause twisting and repetitive movements, abnormal postures, or both. 1 Choreoathetosis can be separated into chorea and athetosis, where chorea is defined as rapid involuntary, jerky, and fragmented movements, while athetosis consists of slower, constantly changing, writhing, or contorting movements. 1 Dystonia and choreoathetosis are prevalent in dyskinetic cerebral palsy (CP) and in different inherited or acquired conditions. 2,3 Assessment of dystonia and choreoathetosis through a reliable and valid scale is fundamental for research and in clinical decision-making. Assessment scales for dystonia are available for different populations, for example, for dystonia in children with CP or for inherited or idiopathic dystonia in adults, 4-6 but their psychometric properties have been questioned. 7,8 Only one scale that evaluates both dystonia and choreoathetosis is available-the Dyskinesia Impairment Scale (DIS)-which was designed for children and young adults with dyskinetic CP. 9

Proceed with caution: Benefits and drawbacks of modern clinimetric analysis

“…Clinicians and researchers have increasingly recognized the importance of improving our current measurement tools. Vanmechelen et al confirm and contribute to this trend in their paper on the development and validation of the Second Edition of the Dyskinesia Impairment Scale 1 . The authors provide a fitting step‐by‐step guide for carrying out a clinimetric analysis, including the prior organization of an expert consensus meeting, demonstrating the positive impact this can have on clinician and patient burden.…”

“…The paper by Eriksson et al 1 investigates the content and evolution of slow-wave activity (SWA) during sleep in children with epilepsy and typically developing children. It aims at understanding the mechanisms that disrupt normal cognitive development of children with epilepsy.…”

“…Furthermore, it appears that the main contribution to the lowered SWA in the first hour of sleep is made by the subgroup of patients with epilepsy who have developed seizures during the few days following their recording session (Figure 3). 1 This leaves us with some questions: (1) Why were they not analyzed separately as a group? This would have cleared any doubt…”

“…Vanmechelen et al confirm and contribute to this trend in their paper on the development and validation of the Second Edition of the Dyskinesia Impairment Scale. 1 The authors provide a fitting step-by-step guide for carryingThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.…”

“…Vanmechelen et al confirm and contribute to this trend in their paper on the development and validation of the Second Edition of the Dyskinesia Impairment Scale. 1 The authors provide a fitting step-by-step guide for carrying…”