Adaptation and Validation of a Sinhala version of the Radbound Oral Motor Inventory (ROMP) for Parkinson's disease

The Radboud Oral Motor Inventory for Parkinson's disease (ROMP) is a patient-rated assessment measuring patients' perceptions of speech, swallowing, and saliva control among patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD).

The present study was carried out to adapt and validate the Sinhala version of the ROMP questionnaire in a Sinhala-speaking patient cohort diagnosed with IPD.

The study population consisted of patients diagnosed with IPD attending a tertiary care neurology clinic at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka. ROMP was translated from English to Sinhala, and an expert committee verified its content. Construct validity was assessed by correlating the Sinhala ROMP scores with the subscales in speech, salivation, and swallowing of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale and with five-point Likert-type scale to assess dysarthria, dysphagia, and drooling by a speech and language therapist. Test-retest reproducibility was assessed by repeating the questionnaire in 2 weeks.

A cohort of 21 patients was evaluated (male to female ratio = 2.5:1, mean age was 58.8 [±8.3] years). The Spearman's correlations between ROMP and the Likert-type scale assessment, that is, speech r = 0.85 (P < 0.01), swallowing r = 0.86 (P < 0.01), and drooling r = 0.88 (P < 0.01), and subscales of the UPDRS were statistically significant, that is, speech r = 0.75 (P < 0.01), swallowing r = 0.96 (P < 0.01), and salivation r = 0.94 (P < 0.01). Reproducibility of the three domains and total intraclass correlation coefficients indicated a high level of agreement in test-retest reproducibility (range: 0.98-0.99). The three subdomains of the instrument also had excellent internal consistency (total Cronbach's α = 0.99).

The Sinhala version of ROMP has proved to be a good assessment tool for dysphagia, dysarthria, and drooling in the early stage of IPD patients.