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@ARTICLE{Off:285817,
author = {Off, Johannes and Scherer, Maximilian and Peschke, Sophia
and Kirschner, Angelina and Zhang, Weidong and Shaik, Juhi
and Dong, Jing and Mehrkens, Jan-Hinnerk and Kaufmann,
Elisabeth and Koeglsperger, Thomas},
title = {{P}sychometric reliability of patient-reported visual
analogue scales in subthalamic nucleus deep brain
stimulation programming for {P}arkinson's disease.},
journal = {Brain communications},
volume = {8},
number = {2},
issn = {2632-1297},
address = {[Oxford]},
publisher = {Oxford University Press},
reportid = {DZNE-2026-00353},
pages = {fcag100},
year = {2026},
abstract = {Subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation is an
established therapy for Parkinson's disease, yet its
programming relies heavily on subjective patient feedback.
Visual analogue scales have been proposed to structure
patient-reported outcome measures during programming, but
their psychometric reliability has not been systematically
evaluated. In this study, fifteen patients with bilateral
subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation completed four
structured experiments to assess the reliability of visual
analogue scales: test-retest consistency, the effect of
stimulation duration (15, 60, 120 s), the impact of
unilateral deep brain stimulation withdrawal intervals (0,
10, 30 min), and contralateral stimulation ON versus OFF.
Across all experiments, patients provided over 3000 visual
analogue scale ratings, which were analyzed using
correlation, regression, and Bland-Altman methods, with
subgroup analyses examining motor phenotype, cognition, and
disease burden. Visual analogue scale ratings demonstrated
strong test-retest reliability (r = 0.70, R 2 = 0.53), with
$83\%$ of repeated scores within ±2 points. Reliability was
lower in patients with tremor-onset compared to non-tremor
onset (P = 0.04) but was unaffected by cognitive status or
quality of life. Stimulation duration influenced absolute
scores, with 15 s ratings systematically lower than 60-120 s
(P < 0.001), though relative scaling was preserved. Deep
brain stimulation withdrawal intervals did not affect group
means but increased trial-level variability, while
contralateral stimulation ON versus OFF showed modest
correspondence (r = 0.31, R 2 = 0.13), suggesting
hemispheric interactions in subjective perception. These
findings indicate that visual analogue scale ratings provide
reproducible and quantifiable feedback during subthalamic
nucleus deep brain stimulation programming. Exploratory
analyses suggest that reliability may vary with motor
phenotype, stimulation duration, and bilateral context.
Incorporating structured visual analogue scale feedback
could enhance programming workflows, support remote care
models, and inform future multimodal closed-loop deep brain
stimulation strategies.},
keywords = {Parkinson’s disease (PD) (Other) / deep brain stimulation
(DBS) (Other) / visual analogue scale (VAS) (Other)},
cin = {Clinical Research (Munich)},
ddc = {610},
cid = {I:(DE-2719)1111015},
pnm = {353 - Clinical and Health Care Research (POF4-353)},
pid = {G:(DE-HGF)POF4-353},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)16},
pubmed = {pmid:41924696},
pmc = {pmc:PMC13037577},
doi = {10.1093/braincomms/fcag100},
url = {https://pub.dzne.de/record/285817},
}