Evaluation of ideomotor apraxia in patients with stroke: a study of reliability and validity

This aim of this study was to determine the reliability and validity of an established ideomotor apraxia test when applied to a Turkish stroke patient population and to healthy controls.

The study group comprised 50 patients with right hemiplegia and 36 with left hemiplegia, who had developed the condition as a result of a cerebrovascular accident, and 33 age-matched healthy subjects.

The subjects were evaluated for apraxia using an established ideomotor apraxia test. The cut-off value of the test and the reliability coefficient between observers were determined.

Apraxia was found in 54% patients with right hemiplegia (most being severe) and in 25% of left hemiplegic patients (most being mild). The apraxia scores for patients with right hemiplegia were found to be significantly lower than for those with left hemiplegia and for healthy subjects. There was no statistically significant difference between patients with left hemiplegia and healthy subjects.

It was shown that the ideomotor apraxia test could distinguish apraxic from non-apraxic subjects. The reliability coefficient among observers in the study was high and a reliability study of the ideomotor apraxia test was therefore performed.