As per preceding commendation, NIHSS has been translated into Urdu language from its English version and adapted culturally in Pakistan. Among stroke population, NIHSS-U has been administered in 225 patients recruited by convenience sampling technique under the pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria after signing consent forms. For testing inter-observer reliability and intra-observer reliability of NIHSS-U, GCS, mRS, and BI, questionnaires has been administered by two observers, on the same day, with a time interval of 2 hours between 1st and 2nd administration. As for the 3rd administration, it has been carried out after seven days by the first observer (re-testing), for intra-observer assessment. SPSS software version 24 has been used for the purpose of data entry and analysis. Internal consistency has been analyzed with Cronbach alpha value. Test-retest reliability has been assessed by using an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The NIHSS-U has evaluated for content validity, construct validity, criterion validity and responsiveness.
The goal of this study was to translate and culturally adapt NIHSS into Urdu language and to evaluate its reliability and validity in Pakistani stroke population. Also assess its correlation with Glasgow Coma Scale, Modified Rankin Scale and Barthel Index for severity and location of post-stroke impairment.