Introduction: Spinal muscular atrophy is a severe neuromuscular disorder characterized by degeneration of anterior motor neurons, resulting in progressive muscle weakness and paralysis. The development of nusinersen for patients with spinal muscular atrophy has led to a need for treatment monitoring. The current standard of care recommends motor function assessment every six months using an appropriate functional scale. Purpose: The purpose of this master's thesis is to translate the Revised Hammersmith Motor Scale) and the Revised Upper Limb Module into the Slovenian language and assess the psychometric properties of the translations. Intra-rater reliability, inter-rater reliability, and convergent validity of the Slovenian translations for assessing adult patients with spinal muscular atrophy has were studied. Additionally, the effects of nusinersen treatment on patients with spinal muscular atrophy were investigated. Methods: A total of 33 patients with spinal muscular atrophy has treated with nusinersen participated in this study. Inter-rater and intra-rater reliability were assessed for the Slovenian translations of Revised Hammersmith Motor Scale and Revised Upper Limb Module, and data from all patients were used to determine the validity of the translations. Treatment effects were monitored using a 6-minute walk test, Revised Hammersmith Motor Scale, Revised Upper Limb Module, and lung function tests at six months, one year, and one and a half years after the start of treatment. Results: The intra-rater reliability of the Slovenian translation of Revised Upper Limb Module was found to be excellent (ICC = 0,996). The inter-rater reliability of the Slovenian translation of Revised Upper Limb Module was excellent on day 0 (ICC = 1) and after seven days (ICC = 0,996). The correlation between the results of Revised Hammersmith Motor Scale and Revised Upper Limb Module was very strong after 6 months of treatment (r = 0,855), as well as after 18 months of treatment (r = 0,888). The correlation between Revised Upper Limb Module and 6-minute walk test was weak after 6 months of treatment (r = 0,41) and after 18 months of treatment (r = 0,35). The intra-rater reliability of the Slovenian translation of RHS was excellent (ICC = 1), and the inter-rater reliability was excellent on day 0 (ICC = 0,999) and after seven days (ICC = 0,999). The correlation between 6-minute walk test and Revised Hammersmith Motor Scale was weak before treatment (r = 0,49) and moderate after 18 months of treatment (r = 0,71). After one and a half years of treatment in adult patients with spinal muscular atrophy has, statistically significant improvements were observed only in the maximum expiratory pressure and sniff nasal inspiratory pressure lung function values. Conclusion: The Slovenian translations of the Revised Hammersmith Functional Motor Scale and the Revised Upper Limb Module are reliable, and their validity ranges from weak to excellent. Despite not finding improvement in the functional abilities of adult patients with spinal muscular atrophy, on average, we did not observe deterioration, which is encouraging for patients considering the progressive nature of the disease.
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