Abstract
Objective
To quantitatively determine levels of upper extremity movement impairment by using
a cluster analysis of the Fugl-Meyer Assessment of the Upper Extremity (FMA-UE) with
and without reflex items.
Design
Secondary analysis.
Setting
University and research centers.
Participants
Individuals (N=247) with chronic stroke (>6mo poststroke).
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures
Cutoff scores defined by FMA-UE total scores of clusters identified by 2 hierarchical
cluster analyses performed on the full sample of FMA-UE individual item scores (with
and without reflexes). Patterns of motor function defined by aggregate item scores
of clusters.
Results
FMA-UE scores ranged from 2 to 63 (mean, 26.9±15.7) with reflex items and from 0 to
57 (mean, 22.1±15.3) without reflex items. Three clusters were identified. The distributions
of the FMA-UE scores revealed considerable overlap between the clusters; therefore,
4 distinct stroke impairment levels were derived.
Conclusions
For chronic stroke, the cluster analysis of the FMA-UE supports either a 3- or a 4-impairment
level classification scheme.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
FMA-UE (Fugl-Meyer Assessment of the Upper Extremity), IRT (item response theory), UE (upper extremity)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: August 09, 2016
Footnotes
Supported by the National Institutes of Health (grant nos. NIH P60 AG12583 and NIH R21 HD052125), National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research IDS 2 (grant nos. H133G010111, NIH R21 HD047756, and NIH P30 AG028747), Department of Veterans Affairs Merit Award (award no. B6935R), and Baltimore VA Geriatrics Research, Education and Clinical Centers.
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine
