title: Walking Index for Spinal Cord Injury version II in acute spinal cord injury: reliability and reproducibility.
abstract: METHODS
  Administration of the walking index for SCI (WISCI) II is recommended to assess walking in spinal cord injury (SCI) patients. Determining the reliability and reproducibility of the WISCI II in acute SCI would be invaluable.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study is to assess the reliability and reproducibility of the WISCI II in patients with traumatic, acute SCI.
  
  
  METHODS
  Test-retest analysis and calculation of reliability and smallest real difference (SRD).
  
  
  METHODS
  SCI unit of a rehabilitation hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-three patients, median age 44 years, median time since onset of SCI 40 days. Level: 20 cervical, 8 thoracic, 5 lumbar; ASIA (American Spinal Injury Association) impairment scale (AIS) grade: 32 D/1 C. Assessment of maximum WISCI II levels by two trained, blinded raters to evaluate interrater (IRR) and intrarater reliability.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The intrarater reliability was 0.999 for therapists A and 0.979 for therapists B, for the maximum WISCI II level. The IRR for the maximum WISCI II score was 0.996 on day 1 and 0.975 on day 2. The SRD for the maximum WISCI II score was 1.147 for tetraplegics and 1.682 for paraplegics. These results suggest that a change of two WISCI II levels could be considered real.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The WISCI II has high IRR and intrarater reliability and good reproducibility in the acute and subacute phase when administered by trained raters.
authors.affiliation: 1] Spinal Cord Unit, IRCCS Fondazione S. Lucia, Roma, Italy [2] Clinical and Research Movement Analysis (CARMA) Laboratory, IRCCS Fondazione S. Lucia, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Scivoletto
authors.affiliation: 1] Spinal Cord Unit, IRCCS Fondazione S. Lucia, Roma, Italy [2] Clinical and Research Movement Analysis (CARMA) Laboratory, IRCCS Fondazione S. Lucia, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tamburella
authors.affiliation: Spinal Cord Unit, IRCCS Fondazione S. Lucia, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Laurenza
authors.affiliation: Spinal Cord Unit, IRCCS Fondazione S. Lucia, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Torre
authors.affiliation: 1] Spinal Cord Unit, IRCCS Fondazione S. Lucia, Roma, Italy [2] Clinical and Research Movement Analysis (CARMA) Laboratory, IRCCS Fondazione S. Lucia, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Molinari
authors.affiliation: Regional SCI Center of the Delaware Valley, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Ditunno
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020127:Recovery of Function; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000150:complications*; D016138:Walking; D055815:Young Adult