Translation and validation of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis severity scale (ALSSS)

Abstract

The purpose was to translate the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Severity Scale (ALSSS) into Portuguese, to validate it and assess its reliability. The scale was submitted to bilingual translators, its abbreviation in Portuguese being Egela; three physical therapists were trained for its application. Twenty-two patients (5 women, 17 men, mean age 45.9) were evaluated by the Egela and by the functional independence measure (FIM); 11 of them were assessed for dysphagia classification. In all ALSSS domains the intraclass correlation coefficients were over 0.89; high internal consistency was found in all scale domains and for each examiner. Strong correlations were found between motor FIM and spinal ALSSS (r=0.87; p<0.0001), ALSSS swallow domain and both dysphagia classifications (r=-0.88; p=0.0015), and ALSSS speech domain and expression FIM (r=0.76; p<0.001). The Portuguese version of ALSSS showed significant inter-examiner reliability and internal consistency, as well as strong correlations with FIM scores, thus proving a valid and reliable tool for assessing patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.