Objective

To translate and validate a French version of the Pediatric Stroke Outcome Measure – summary of impressions (PSOM-SOI), for application in a population of French children after neonatal arterial ischemic stroke (NAIS). The PSOM measures deficiency of body functions and structures. On completion of this examination, the PSOM-SOI was developed containing and scoring 5 subscales: right sensorimotor, left sensorimotor (each with subcategories), language production, language comprehension and cognitive/behavioral.

Materials/patients and methods

The PSOM-SOI was translated into French and then, interobserver agreement of the tool was measured using weighted kappa in a multicenter cohort study of children 7 years after neonatal arterial ischemic stroke (NAIS). 2 raters scored retrospective PSOM-SOI from medical records and validated scales for each subscales.

Results

69 children (mean age = 7.0 years) were recruited. Interobserver agreement was substantial for items B and C, i.e. production and comprehension language deficits [ k = 0.71 (95% CI = 0.57 to 0.83); k = 0.70 (95% CI = 0.55 to 0.82) respectively]; moderate for items A and D, i.e. sensorimotor and cognitive/behavioural deficits [ k = 0.47 (95% CI = 0.34 to 0.60); k = 0.52 (95% CI = 0.36 to 0.67) respectively] and slight for the total score [ k = 0.19 (95% CI = 0.08 to 0.30)].

Discussion/conclusion

The PSOM-SOI can be used to reliably grade neurological examination for children following a stroke, besides raters with different level of clinical experience. However, additional development and validation work is required using a clinical exam to improve the prospective validation of the complete PSOM.