title: Hypertonia Assessment Tool.
abstract: The Hypertonia Assessment Tool is a 7-item instrument that discriminates spasticity, dystonia, and rigidity on 3 levels: item scores, subtype, and hypertonia diagnosis for each extremity. We quantified the inter- and intrarater reliability using Kappa statistics, Gwet's first-order agreement coefficient (both with 95% confidence interval), and percentage agreement for all levels. For validity, we compared the Hypertonia Assessment Tool subtype with the clinical diagnosis provided by the physicians. Two physiotherapists tested 45 children with neuromotor disorders. The interrater reliability (n = 45) of the Hypertonia Assessment Tool subtype was moderate to substantial whereas the intrarater reliability (n = 42) was almost perfect. The Hypertonia Assessment Tool showed good agreement in detecting spasticity. On the contrary, there was a higher presence of dystonia of 24% to 25% tested with the Hypertonia Assessment Tool compared to the clinical diagnosis. Even some individual items showed lower agreement between raters; the Hypertonia Assessment Tool subtypes and diagnosis were reliable. Validity of the Hypertonia Assessment Tool to test spasticity is confirmed, whereas, for dystonia and rigidity, further studies are needed.
authors.affiliation: 1 Pediatric Rehab Research Group, Rehabilitation Center for Children and Adolescents, University Children's Hospital Zurich, Affoltern am Albis, Switzerland.|2 Children's Research Center (CRC), University Children's Hospital Zurich, Affoltern am Albis, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Marsico
authors.affiliation: 1 Pediatric Rehab Research Group, Rehabilitation Center for Children and Adolescents, University Children's Hospital Zurich, Affoltern am Albis, Switzerland.|2 Children's Research Center (CRC), University Children's Hospital Zurich, Affoltern am Albis, Switzerland.|3 Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Winterthur, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Frontzek-Weps
authors.affiliation: 1 Pediatric Rehab Research Group, Rehabilitation Center for Children and Adolescents, University Children's Hospital Zurich, Affoltern am Albis, Switzerland.|2 Children's Research Center (CRC), University Children's Hospital Zurich, Affoltern am Albis, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Balzer
authors.affiliation: 1 Pediatric Rehab Research Group, Rehabilitation Center for Children and Adolescents, University Children's Hospital Zurich, Affoltern am Albis, Switzerland.|2 Children's Research Center (CRC), University Children's Hospital Zurich, Affoltern am Albis, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Hubertus J A
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: van Hedel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004421:Dystonia / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D035002:Lower Extremity / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D009069:Movement Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009122:Muscle Hypertonia / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014175:Translating; D034941:Upper Extremity / Q000503:physiopathology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: cerebral palsy; dystonia; measurement; psychometric properties; spasticity