The SCOPA-Motor Scale for assessment of Parkinson's disease is a consistent and valid measure

Objective: The SCOPA-Motor Scale (S-MS) for assessment of Parkinson's disease (PD), contains 21 items in three domains: Motor examination, Disability, and Complications. Our objective was to validate the S-MS Spanish version. Study Design and Setting: This validation study was based on a multicenter, cross-sectional, one-point-in-time evaluation design. The applied measures were: Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale-3.0 (UPDRS); S-MS; PD Global Evaluation (PDGE); and Clinical Global Impression of severity (CGI). Completeness of data collection, floor and ceiling effect, internal consistency, precision, and construct and discriminative validity were analyzed in 151 PD patients. Results: Scores from S-MS were fully computable. Floor effect was high for Complications (43.7%). Cronbach's alpha was > 0.90 for every domain, and item-total correlation was > 0.70 except for Examination. Standard error of measurement (SEM) ranged from 0.40 to 2.4. Convergent validity with corresponding UPDRS sections yielded coefficients > 0.90. Discriminative validity across Hoehn and Yahr (HY) and CGI stages was significant (Kruskal-Wallis, P < .0001). Insofar as internal consistency was concerned, alpha-values of the Examination sections were marginally higher for the UPDRS than for the S-MS (a finding perhaps accounted for by redundancy in this part of the UPDRS). Conclusion: The S-MS is a consistent and valid scale, shorter by almost half than the UPDRS. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.