TY  - JOUR
AU  - Vogel, Adam P
AU  - Graf, Lisa
AU  - Weiß, Merit
AU  - Chan, Cheuk S J
AU  - Hepworth, Graham
AU  - Synofzik, Matthis
TI  - Development and validation of the dysarthria impact scale: a patient-reported outcome for motor speech disorders.
JO  - Journal of neurology
VL  - 273
IS  - 3
SN  - 0367-004X
CY  - [Darmstadt]
PB  - Steinkopff
M1  - DZNE-2026-00273
SP  - 195
PY  - 2026
AB  - Impaired speech due to dysarthria significantly impacts quality of life. Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) offer critical insight into the lived experience of communication disability and are central to regulatory frameworks for patient-focused drug development.To develop and validate the Dysarthria Impact Scale (DIS), a brief PRO designed to assess the impact of motor speech disorders on quality of life across neurological conditions.A multi-site, cross-sectional study was conducted with 244 participants, including individuals with Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, hereditary ataxias, and head and neck cancer, and healthy controls. The 22-item DIS was developed using expert input and patient feedback and evaluated alongside reference tools (Voice Handicap Index and SF-36). Item reduction procedures yielded two shorter versions (DIS-17 and DIS-6). Validity, reliability, and sensitivity/specificity analyses were performed, and minimal clinically important differences (MCIDs) were estimated using distribution-based methods.All DIS versions showed strong convergent validity with the VHI (r = -0.85) and SF-36 (r = 0.72) and were correlated with blinded perceptual speech ratings. DIS-17 and DIS-6 achieved comparable sensitivity (0.93 and 0.88) and specificity (0.84 and 0.86, respectively). Test-retest reliability was high (r = 0.98), with estimated MCIDs and within-subject variability provided. Group differences were observed, with lower DIS scores in ataxia and Parkinson's disease compared to Huntington's disease.The DIS is a valid, reliable, and practical PRO for quantifying the impact of dysarthria on quality of life. Longitudinal responsiveness remains to be established.
KW  - Humans
KW  - Dysarthria: diagnosis
KW  - Dysarthria: etiology
KW  - Dysarthria: psychology
KW  - Male
KW  - Female
KW  - Middle Aged
KW  - Patient Reported Outcome Measures
KW  - Aged
KW  - Cross-Sectional Studies
KW  - Adult
KW  - Reproducibility of Results
KW  - Quality of Life
KW  - Severity of Illness Index
KW  - Clinical trials (Other)
KW  - Dysarthria (Other)
KW  - Patient-reported outcome (Other)
KW  - Questionnaire (Other)
KW  - Speech (Other)
KW  - Survey (Other)
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:41805906
C2  - pmc:PMC12975812
DO  - DOI:10.1007/s00415-026-13740-1
UR  - https://pub.dzne.de/record/285634
ER  -