Responsiveness of Persian 12-Item multiple sclerosis walking scale: a replication study

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Neurology
• Clinical Measurement

Background:

• The Multiple Sclerosis Walking Scale-12 (MSWS-12) is a patient-reported outcome measure assessing walking limitations.
• The Persian version (MSWS-12p) requires further validation regarding its responsiveness to interventions.
• Determining the minimally clinically important change (MCIC) is crucial for interpreting MSWS-12p scores.

Purpose of the Study:

• To re-evaluate the responsiveness of the MSWS-12p following physiotherapy.
• To establish the MCIC for the MSWS-12p in patients with multiple sclerosis (PwMS).

Main Methods:

• Prospective cohort study involving 30 PwMS undergoing 10 physiotherapy sessions.
• Outcome measures included the MSWS-12p and Timed 25-Foot Walk test (T25-FW).
• Data collected pre- and post-intervention; effect sizes, AUC, and MCIC were calculated.

Main Results:

• Moderate effect sizes (0.52, 0.64) were observed for the MSWS-12p.
• MSWS-12p change scores strongly correlated with the smallest detectable change criterion (Eta = 0.84).
• The MCIC for MSWS-12p was determined to be 10.0 points, with perfect AUC.

Conclusions:

• The MSWS-12p is a responsive measure for assessing physiotherapy outcomes in PwMS.
• A change exceeding 10.0 points on the MSWS-12p signifies a clinically meaningful improvement.
• The MSWS-12p can reliably track changes in walking ability after physiotherapy interventions.