J Clin Neurol.  2012 Dec;8(4):276-283. 10.3988/jcn.2012.8.4.276.

Validation of the Korean-Version of the Nonmotor Symptoms Scale for Parkinson's Disease

• Koh SB
• Kim JW
• Ma HI
• Ahn TB
• Cho JW
• Lee PH
• Chung SJ
• Kim JS
• Kwon DY
• Baik JS

• KMID: 2287579
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3988/jcn.2012.8.4.276

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Non-motor symptoms are common in Parkinson's disease (PD), and are the primary cause of disability in many PD patients. Our aim in this study was to translate the origin non-motor symptoms scale for PD (NMSS), which was written in English, into Korean (K-NMSS), and to evaluate its reliability and validity for use with Korean-speaking patients with PD.
METHODS
In total, 102 patients with PD from 9 movement disorders sections of university teaching hospitals in Korea were enrolled in this study. They were assessed using the K-NMSS, the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), the Korean version of the Mini-Mental Status Examination (K-MMSE), the Korean version of the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (K-MADS), the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire 39 (PDQ39). Test-retest reliability was assessed over a time interval of 10-14 days in all but one patient.
RESULTS
The K-NMSS was administered to 102 patients with PD. The internal consistency and reliability of this tool was 0.742 (mean Cronbach's alpha-coefficient). The test-retest correlation reliability was 0.941 (Guttman split-half coefficient). There was a moderate correlation between the total K-NMSS score and the scores for UPDRS part I [Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, (rS)=0.521, p<0.001] and UPDRS part II (rS=0.464, p=0.001), but there was only a weak correlation between the total K-NMSS score and the UPDRS part III score (rS=0.288, p=0.003). The total K-NMSS score was significantly correlated with the K-MADS (rS=0.594, p<0.001), K-MMSE (rS=-0.291, p=0.003), and ESS (rS=0.348, p<0.001). The total K-NMSS score was also significantly and positively correlated with the PDQ39 score (rS=0.814, p<0.001).
CONCLUSIONS
The K-NMSS exhibited good reliability and validity for the assessment of non-motor symptoms in Korean PD patients.

Keyword

Parkinson's disease; non-motor symptoms scale; validation

MeSH Terms

Depression
Hospitals, Teaching
Humans
Korea
Movement Disorders
Parkinson Disease
Reproducibility of Results
Surveys and Questionnaires

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Comparison of the mean score for each domain of NMSS between the current study, the original study, and the Chinese study. CV: cardiovascular, GI: gastrointestinal, NMSS: non-motor symptoms scale for Parkinson's disease.

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  Fig. 2 Correlation between the NMSS score and PDQ39. NMSS: non-motor symptoms scale for Parkinson's disease, PDQ-Sumi: Parkinson's disease questionnaires 39_summary index.

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