The inter-rater reliability of the Italian version of Aphasia Rapid Test (ART) for acute ischemic stroke.

BACKGROUND: The Aphasia Rapid Test (ART) is a screening questionnaire used for examining language in acute stroke patients. The ART was initially developed and validated in French. The purpose of this study was to assess the inter-rater reliability of Italian ART. METHODS: The original version of the ART was translated into Italian. The inter-rater reliability was assessed by two independent neurologists who were blind to each other's ratings in 52 acute post-stroke patients. RESULTS: The 52 patients (28 men, 24 women; mean age 73.73 ± 28.99 years) were included within 1 week of stroke onset (46 ischemic, 6 hemorrhagic), as assessed by clinical examination and confirmed by CT and/or MRI. The mean (± SD) ART value was 9.38 (± 9.26) for rater 1 and 9 (±9.31) for rater 2. The inter-rater agreement was very good, with a coefficient of concordance of 0.99 (95% CI 0.986-0.995; p < 0.0001) and a weighted kappa of 0.878 and a quadratic weighted kappa of 0.983. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that the cross-cultural adaptation of the French version of the ART was successful in an Italian-speaking population.