artigo original Tradução para o Português e Avaliação da Confiabilidade de Uma Escala para Diagnóstico da Polineuropatia Distal Diabética

ABSTRACT Translation into Portuguese and Assessment of the Reliability of a Scale forthe Diagnosis of Diabetic Distal Polyneuropathy.The aim of this study was to translate into Portuguese and to assess thereliability of an instrument for the diagnosis of diabetic distal polyneu-ropathy (DPN). The process for translation and adaptation into Por-tuguese of the Neuropathy Symptom Score (NSS) and the NeuropathyDisability Score (NDS) was performed following internationally standard-ized procedures. The instruments were applied by 2 raters in 57 consecu-tive subjects. Spearman correlation was used to evaluate the reliabilityand Cronbachs’ alpha to evaluate the internal consistency of the items.Both, ECN and ESN, showed a good reliability (r= 0.77, p< 0.0001 and r=0.76, p< 0.0001, respectively). ESN showed a good internal consistency(alpha= 0.74). The diagnosis of DPN, defined as the combination of thetwo scores (ECN+ESN) also showed a good reliability (r= 0.63, p< 0.0001).The Portuguese versions of the ESN and the ECN seem to be adequatefor the diagnosis of DPN in this population. (Arq Bras Endocrinol Metab2005;49/6:944-950)Keywords: Diabetic neuropathy; Distal polyneuropathy; Neuropathysymptoms score; Neuropathy disability score