The Unified Batten Disease Rating Scale (UBDRS): Validation and reliability in an independent CLN3 disease sample.

Autor: Wibbeler E; University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, Germany. Electronic address: e.wibbeler@uke.de., Nickel M; University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, Germany., Schwering C; University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, Germany., Schulz A; University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, Germany., Mink JW; Department of Neurology, University of Rochester, 601 Elmwood Avenue, Rochester, NY, 14642, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: European journal of paediatric neurology : EJPN : official journal of the European Paediatric Neurology Society [Eur J Paediatr Neurol] 2022 May; Vol. 38, pp. 62-65. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Apr 04.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpn.2022.03.005
Abstrakt: Background: The neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCLs) are a group of disorders characterized by neurodegeneration and intracellular accumulation of an auto-fluorescent lipopigment. Together, NCLs represent the most common cause of cerebral neurodegenerative disease in children. CLN3 disease, the classic juvenile-onset form (JNCL) due to mutations in CLN3, is characterized by progressive vision loss, epilepsy, dementia, behavioral difficulties, and motor impairment. The Unified Batten Disease Rating Scale (UBDRS) is a disease-specific rating scale that was developed to assess disease severity in 4 domains: physical, behavior, seizures, and functional capability. Validity and reliability of the UBDRS has been established in a large North American cohort of over 130 individuals. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the UBDRS is valid and reliable when tested in an independent sample.
Methods: Over the course of one week, 13 individuals with genetically confirmed CLN3 disease were evaluated with the UBDRS by 5 examiners at the University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf (UKE). One rater (JWM), one of the developers of the UBDRS, served as the reference standard. The other 4 raters were physicians with expertise in various forms of Batten Disease. After a formal training session, 13 individuals (age 16.5 ± 5.6 yrs) were evaluated simultaneous in parallel by the 5 raters. Inter-rater reliability of the Physical subscale was assessed with Intra-class Correlation (ICC) analysis. The relationship between age and severity was assessed and compared to previously published data from the North American cohort.
Findings: The ICC among the 5 independent raters was 0.92, demonstrating excellent inter-rater reliability. The individual correlations of each UKE rater compared to the reference standard rater were all >0.95. The average UBDRS Physical Subscale score in this sample was 28 ± 21 (mean ± SD) with a range from 1 to 61. When evaluated as a function of participant age, the slope was 3.06 points/year (R 2  = 0.66).
Interpretation: We have shown excellent interrater reliability for the UBDRS as a clinical rating scale for CLN3 disease in a sample independent from previous work. The results of this study are comparable to those published by Kwon et al., 2011 in a North American cohort showing a slope of 2.86 points per year with a 95% CI of 2.27-3.45 (N = 82). Our results demonstrate excellence inter-rater reliability after training a new group of raters and provide additional evidence for construct validity of the UBDRS. The UBDRS is a valid and reliable rating scale that can used by trained raters to assess the severity and rate of progression of CLN3 disease.
(© 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of European Paediatric Neurology Society.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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