Test-retest reliability of 1-minute walk test in children with cerebral palsy

Abstract

Walk test is a tool that has been used in the assessment of functional ability in ambulatory children with cerebral palsy (CP).  One-minute walk test (1MWT) is probably suitable because it is simple and consume less time for the test. However, there was no report on reliability of the test in this patient population. Aim of this study was to estimate the test–retest reliability of the 1MWT in children with CP.  The test-retest reliability of the 1MWT was evaluated in 31 ambulatory children with CP aged 6-18 years (mean 14.3 ± 2.8 years) of a school for handicapped persons in Khon Kaen.  All subjects were asked to walk on a 20-meters oval line for 1 minute in two occasions with 1 week apart. Each occasion, the test was measured two times.  Subgroup analyses were performed according to the types of CP which include spasticity (n=24), athetoid (n = 4) and ataxia (n = 3), and the levels (I to III) of Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS).  Results showed high reliability of the 1MWTwith intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.95 (95% CI: 0.89 to 0.98, P < 0.001) in the children with spastic CP. However, no reliability was found for other types of CP.  In conclusion, 1MWT has been demonstrated with very good test-retest reliability in the children with spastic CP.  Further study should reassess the test-retest reliability of 1MWT in larger sample size of other types of CP.