• Yi-Miau Chen, Yi-Jing Huang, Chien-Yu Huang, Gong-Hong Lin, Lih-Jiun Liaw, Shih-Chieh Lee, and Ching-Lin Hsieh.
• Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
• Eur J Phys Rehabil Med. 2017 Oct 1; 53 (5): 719-724.

BackgroundThe 3-point Berg Balance Scale (BBS-3P) and 3-point Postural Assessment Scale for Stroke Patients (PASS-3P) were simplified from the BBS and PASS to overcome the complex scoring systems. The BBS-3P and PASS-3P were more feasible in busy clinical practice and showed similarly sound validity and responsiveness to the original measures. However, the reliability of the BBS-3P and PASS-3P is unknown limiting their utility and the interpretability of scores.AimWe aimed to examine the test-retest reliability and minimal detectable change (MDC) of the BBS-3P and PASS-3P in patients with stroke.DesignCross-sectional study.SettingThe rehabilitation departments of a medical center and a community hospital.PopulationA total of 51 chronic stroke patients (64.7% male).MethodsBoth balance measures were administered twice 7 days apart. The test-retest reliability of both the BBS-3P and PASS-3P were examined by intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). The MDC and its percentage over the total score (MDC%) of each measure was calculated for examining the random measurement errors.ResultsThe ICC values of the BBS-3P and PASS-3P were 0.99 and 0.97, respectively. The MDC% (MDC) of the BBS-3P and PASS-3P were 9.1% (5.1 points) and 8.4% (3.0 points), respectively, indicating that both measures had small and acceptable random measurement errors.ConclusionsOur results showed that both the BBS-3P and the PASS-3P had good test-retest reliability, with small and acceptable random measurement error. These two simplified 3-level balance measures can provide reliable results over time.Clinical Rehabilitation ImpactOur findings support the repeated administration of the BBS-3P and PASS-3P to monitor the balance of patients with stroke. The MDC values can help clinicians and researchers interpret the change scores more precisely.

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