Objective: We aimed to investigation the intra-rater and inter-raters reliability of the 10 meter walk test (10 MWT) in adults with spastic cerebral palsy (CP).
Materials & methods: Thirty ambulatory adults with spastic CP in the summer of 2014 participated (19 men, 11 women; mean age 28 ± 7 yr, range 18- 46 yr). Individuals were non-randomly selected by convenient sampling from the Ra'ad Rehabilitation Goodwill Complex in Tehran, Iran. They had GMFCS levels below IV (I, II, and III). Retest interval for inter-raters study lasted a week. During the tests, participants walked with their maximum speed. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) estimated reliability.
Results: The 10 MWT ICC for intra-rater was 0.98 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.96-0.99) for participants, and >0.89 in GMFCS subgroups (95% confidence interval (CI) lower bound>0.67). The 10 MWT inter-raters' ICC was 0.998 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0/996-0/999), and >0.993 in GMFCS subgroups (95% confidence interval (CI) lower bound>0.977). Standard error of the measurement (SEM) values for both studies was small (0.02< SEM< 0.07).
Conclusion: Excellent intra-rater and inter-raters reliability of the 10 MWT in adults with CP, especially in the moderate motor impairments (GMFCS level III), indicates that this tool can be used in clinics to assess the results of interventions.
Keywords: 10 meter walk test; Cerebral palsy; Reliability; Walking speed.