Agreement between video-based clinician-rated tools and patient-reported outcomes on gait assessment in individuals with multiple sclerosis.

PURPOSE: To our knowledge, no studies compared the video-clinician-based tools and patient-reported questionnaires in assessing gait and balance in people with MS (pwMS). The present study investigated the correlation and agreement between video-clinician-based objective measurement tools and patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) in gait and balance evaluation.

METHODS

A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted with 55 pwMS. Video analysis-based gait was evaluated by the Tinetti Gait Assessment (TGA), Gait Assessment and Intervention Tool (GAIT), and Functional Ambulation Classification Scale (FACS) by the clinician. Participants' self-reported gait and balance were assessed with the Multiple Sclerosis Walking Scale-12 (MSWS-12) and Activity-Specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC).

RESULTS

There was a moderate positive correlation between ABC with TGA and FACS (r1: 0.552, r2: 0.510, p < 0.001). ABC was strongly correlated with GAIT (r: - 0.652, p < 0.001). A moderate positive correlation was observed between MSWS-12 with TGA and FACS (r1: - 0.575, r2: - 0.524, p < 0.001). In addition, there was a strong positive correlation between MSWS-12 and GAIT (r: - 0.652, p < 0.001). Clinician-rated tools and PROMs were within the agreement limits regarding the unstandardized beta values p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Clinician-based gait and balance tools demonstrate consistent results with PROMs in pwMS. Considering the low cost and practical use of PROMs, in cases where video-based clinician-based measurements cannot be provided (time, space, and technical inadequacies), questionnaires can provide concordant results at moderate and severe levels compared with objective tools.