Reliability and Validity of the Turkish Version of the Early Clinical Assessment of Balance (ECAB) for Young Children with Cerebral Palsy

The Early Clinical Assessment of Balance (ECAB) is a clinical tool that measures the postural stability of young children with cerebral palsy (CP) between the ages of one and a half to five years. The aim of this study was to test the reliability and the validity of the Turkish version of the ECAB in children with CP. Fifty children with spastic CP with the median age of 4.25 (IQR: 3–5) years were included in the study. The children were between the levels I-V according to the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS). Test-retest reliability of the ECAB was evaluated by using the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC3,1). Validity of the ECAB was analysed by examining the differences in the ECAB scores between the GMFCS levels and investigating the relation between the Turkish version of the ECAB and the GMFM-88. We found that the Turkish version of the ECAB had good test-retest reliability. Mann-Whitney U pairwise analyses indicated that the ECAB scores differed significantly between GMFCS levels I-III, I-IV, I-V and II-V (p < 0.00512, Sidak correction, CI: 95%). Spearman correlation coefficient between the ECAB and the total GMFM-88 score was 0.968 (p < 0.01). The results of our study showed that the Turkish version of the ECAB has good test-retest reliability and validity to assess postural stability of Turkish children with spastic CP, but we recommend further research to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the ECAB in different types (ataxia, dyskinesia, etc.) of CP.