The London handicap scale: a re-evaluation of its validity using standard scoring and simple summation

Objective-To assess the validity of the London handicap scale (LHS) using a simple unweighted scoring system compared with traditional weighted scorin g Methods-323 patients admitted to hospital with acute stroke were followed u p by interview 6 months after their stroke as part of a trial looking at th e impact of a family support organiser. Outcome measures included the six i tem LHS, the Dartmouth COOP charts, the Frenchay activities index, the Bart hel index, and the hospital anxiety and depression scale, Patients' handica p score was calculated both using the standard procedure (with weighting) f or the LHS, and using a simple summation procedure without weighting (U-LHS ). Construct validity of both LHS and U-LHS was assessed by testing their c orrelations with the other outcome measures. Results-Cronbach's a for the LHS was 0.83, The U-LHS was highly correlated with the LHS (r=0.98). Correlation of U-LHS with the other outcome measures gave very similar results to correlation of LHS with these measures. Conclusion-Simple summation scoring of the LHS does not lead to any change in the measurement properties of the instrument compared with standard weig hted scoring. Unweighted scores are easier to calculate and interpret, so i t is recommended that these are used.