Inter- and Intra-rater Reliability of the Head-shaft Angle in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Purpose: Children with cerebral palsy (CP) are at increased risk for hip dislocation. This can be prevented in most cases using surveillance programmes that include radiographic examinations. Known risk factors for hip dislocation include young age, high Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) level and high migration percentage (MP). The head-shaft angle (HSA) has recently been described as an additional risk factor. The study aim was to determine inter- and intra-rater reliability of the HSA in a surveillance programme for children with CP.

Methods: We included hip radiographs from the CP surveillance programme CPUP in southern Sweden during the first half of 2016. Fifty radiographs were included from children at GMFCS levels II-V, with a mean age of 6.6 (SD 3.2) years. Three raters measured the HSA of one hip (left or right) at baseline and four weeks later; intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to estimate inter- and intra-rater reliability.

Results: Inter- and intra-rater reliability were excellent for the HSA, with ICC 0.92 (95% CI 0.87-0.96) and ICC 0.99 (95% CI 0.98-0.99), respectively.

Conclusion: The HSA showed excellent inter- and intra-rater reliability for children with CP, providing further evidence for use of the HSA as an additional factor for identifying risk for further hip displacement or dislocation.