NIH Stroke Scale score

Method

National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale total score, a 15-item clinician-administered neurological examination scored 0-42 by a certified examiner. The assessment timepoint (day 7, day 90, or trial-specified) is recorded on the edge.

The method is part of the endpoint identity. Studies measuring the same quantity by a different method are held as separate endpoints.

Notes

SIGN INVERSION HAZARD against every cognitive and functional performance score in this vocabulary. This is a DEFICIT score — a higher number means a worse neurological examination — so it improves by FALLING, whereas CAT:outcome/working-memory, CAT:outcome/sustained-attention, choice reaction accuracy, Karnofsky Performance Status and activities-of-daily-living scores all improve by RISING. SIGN INVERSION also against Modified Rankin Scale 0-2 at 90 days, which is reported in the same stroke trials from the same patients: that endpoint is a PROPORTION achieving functional independence and improves by RISING, while this is a continuous impairment score improving by FALLING. Also distinct from the modified Rankin Scale used as an ordinal score, which is disability rather than impairment.