Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2006 Jun 13;66(11):1717-20.
doi: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000219042.60538.92.

Scale for the assessment and rating of ataxia: development of a new clinical scale

T Schmitz-Hübsch  1 , S Tezenas du Montcel, L Baliko, J Berciano, S Boesch, C Depondt, P Giunti, C Globas, J Infante, J-S Kang, B Kremer, C Mariotti, B Melegh, M Pandolfo, M Rakowicz, P Ribai, R Rola, L Schöls, S Szymanski, B P van de Warrenburg, A Dürr, T Klockgether, Roberto Fancellu
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Scale for the assessment and rating of ataxia: development of a new clinical scale

T Schmitz-Hübsch et al. Neurology. .

Erratum in

  • Neurology. 2006 Jul 25;67(2):299. Fancellu, Roberto [added]

Abstract

Objective: To develop a reliable and valid clinical scale measuring the severity of ataxia.

Methods: The authors devised the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) and tested it in two trials of 167 and 119 patients with spinocerebellar ataxia.

Results: The mean time to administer SARA in patients was 14.2 +/- 7.5 minutes (range 5 to 40). Interrater reliability was high, with an intraclass coefficient (ICC) of 0.98. Test-retest reliability was high with an ICC of 0.90. Internal consistency was high as indicated by Cronbach's alpha of 0.94. Factorial analysis revealed that the rating results were determined by a single factor. SARA ratings showed a linear relation to global assessments using a visual analogue scale, suggesting linearity of the scale (p < 0.0001, r(2) = 0.98). SARA score increased with the disease stage (p < 0.001) and was closely correlated with the Barthel Index (r = -0.80, p < 0.001) and part IV (functional assessment) of the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS-IV) (r = -0.89, p < 0.0001), whereas it had only a weak correlation with disease duration (r = 0.34, p < 0.0002).

Conclusions: The Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia is a reliable and valid measure of ataxia, making it an appropriate primary outcome measure for clinical trials.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources