Research On The Reliability And Validity Of The Disease And Syndrome Combined Scale On Nerve-root Cervical Spondylosis

Objective:to evaluate the reliability and validity of of the disease and syndrome combined scale on nerve-root cervical spondylosis (CS) and provide a tool for clinical applications and research to diagnose cervicalspondylotic radiculopathy.Methods:432 patients of spondylose cervicale radiculaire were choosed in the study. The Spearman correlation coefficient of two results of participants after test were used to indicate test-retest reliability, while Spearman correlation coefficient of the separate results of participants assessed by two doctors were used to indicate reliability among assessors. Cronbachp's a coefficient and Spearman correlation coefficient were used to indicate internal consistency of each factor and scale separately. Test results of 432 nerve-root cervical spondylosis patients were as factor to analyze the construct validity. Test results of 432 nerve-root cervical spondylosis patients and 98 cervical spondylosis of vertebral artery type (CSA) were used as Mann-Whithey U test to assess discrimination validity.Results:For 255 nerve-root cervical spondylosis patients, Test-retest Spearman correlation coefficient of factors, subscales and scale are between 0.856-0.972(P=0.000-0.006). Inter-rater Spearman correlation coefficient of factors, subscales and scale are between 0.865-0.991 (P=0.000). Cronbach's alpha coefficient of factors which are used to examine the internal consistency reliability are between 0.704-0.978. If some items are deleted, the related factors or subscale's Cronbach's alpha coefficient would decrease in most cases. Four common factors extracted from disease subscale, three common factors extracted from syndrome subscale, two common factors extracted from overall indicators subscale all have logical relationships among the scale. The cumulative variances are 47.361%,65.512%,48.274%. There are significant differences between Nerve-root CS patients and Vertebral-artery CS patients on Nerve-root CS'unique items (P<0.01), while there is no obvious differences between neck mobility and vertebral-artery CS patients (P>0.05). There are significant differences among the four pattens'Nerve-root CS patients on syndrome subscale's items, factors and the total score (P<0.01). Furthermore, there are obvious differences of diseases differentiation and subscale scores (P<0.01).Conclusion:This scale has good test-retest reliability, inter-rater reliability and internal consistency reliability, as well as good construct and discriminate validity, which can be used as an objective and effective method to assess nerve-root cervical spondylosis.