Reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Upper Limb Short Questionnaire in Duchenne muscular dystrophy

This study aimed to evaluate the construct validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Upper Limb Short Questionnaire in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

A total of 41 children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy have participated in the study. Upper and lower extremities functional levels were assessed with Vignos Scale and Brooke Upper Extremity Functional Rating Scale, respectively. The construct validity of the questionnaire was determined using the correlation between the Upper Limb Short Questionnaire and ABILHAND-Kids. The Cronbach alpha value was calculated to determine internal consistency. To determine test-retest reliability, 17 randomly selected children were evaluated seven days after the first evaluation, and the 'Intraclass Correlation Coefficient' value was calculated.

There was a moderate level of positive correlation between the Upper Limb Short Questionnaire scores and the Vignos Scale (r = 0.52, p < 0.001) and the Brooke Upper Extremity Functional Rating Scale (r = 0.65, p < 0.001). There was a strong correlation between the Upper Limb Short Questionnaire and ABILHAND-Kids in the negative direction (r= -0.80, p < 0.001). Internal consistency of the ULSQ was fairly high (Cronbach's alpha = 0.785) and test-retest reliability was good (ICC = 0.86).

The Turkish version of Upper Limb Short Questionnaire is a valid and reliable scale for children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. It can be a useful tool in the UE clinical evaluation of children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.