Subject-investigator reproducibility of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale

Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2012 Mar;18(3):230-3. doi: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2011.10.006. Epub 2011 Oct 21.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the subject-investigator agreement on the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) subsections I and II.

Methods: Subject-investigator agreement was estimated at baseline and endpoint by Kappa statistics for individual items and concordance correlations for subscale totals using data from two NIH Exploratory Trials in Parkinson's Disease studies.

Results: All but two questions had moderate subject-investigator agreement at baseline and endpoint. Participants consistently rated their disease activity worse that investigators.

Conclusion: UPDRS self-administration produces similar results to investigator-administration. Although slightly elevated, UPDRS self-administration can be accommodated in a clinical trial setting.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Clinical Trials, Phase II as Topic
  • Disease Progression
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Parkinson Disease / diagnosis*
  • Physicians
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Self Report*
  • Severity of Illness Index*