Pediatric Rheumatology Online Journal → July 2003 → Dermatomyositis → Clinical Evaluation → Abstract #120

NORMAL SCORES FOR NINE MANEUVERS OF THE CHILDHOOD MYOSITIS ASSESSMENT SCALE (CMAS)

R. M. Rennebohm,¹ K. Jones,¹ A. M. Huber,² S. H. Ballinger,³ B. M. Feldman,⁴ J. Hicks,⁵ I. M. Katona,⁶ C. B. Lindsley,⁷ F. W. Miller,⁸ M. H. Passo,⁹ M. D. Perez,¹⁰ A. M. Reed,¹¹ C. A. Wallace,¹² P. H. White,¹³ L. S. Zemel,¹⁴ P. A. Lachenbruch,¹⁵ J. R. Hayes,¹ L. G. Rider.⁸

¹Pediatrics, Columbus Children's Hospital, Ohio State University, College of Medicine, Columbus, OH; ²IWK Health Centre, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada; ³Riley Children's Hospital, University of Indiana, Indianapolis, IN; ⁴Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; ⁵Rehabilitation Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD; ⁶Uniformed Services, University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD; ⁷University of Kansas, Kansas City, KS; ⁸Environmental Autoimmunity Group, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH, Bethesda, MD; ⁹Children's Hospital, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH; ¹⁰Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX; ¹¹Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN; ¹²Children's Hospital, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; ¹³Children's National Medical Center, Washington, DC; ¹⁴Connecticut Children's Medical Center, University of Connecticut, Hartford, CT,

The Childhood Myositis Assessment Scale (CMAS) is a quantitative, observational instrument for the composite assessment of muscle function, strength, and endurance in children with inflammatory myopathies. The CMAS requires children to perform 14 physical maneuvers. Early in the development of the CMAS it was realized that normal performance of some of the maneuvers might be age or gender dependent.
Objective: This study was conducted to document and evaluate the scores that normal, healthy children acheive when performing 9 maneuvers of the CMAS.
Methods: A total of 303 healthy children, 4-9 years of age, were scored as they performed 9 CMAS maneuvers. The data were evaluated to determine whether normal scores for some maneuvers are age or gender dependent. Data were also analyzed to determine age and gender specific normal total scores for the nine maneuvers (a composite CMAS-9 score).
Results: All children were able to achieve maximum possible scores for the supine-to-prone, supine-to-sit, floor-sit, floor-rise, and chair-rise maneuvers. All but two (of 50) 4 year-olds achieved a maximum possible score for the arm raise/duration maneuver. Performance of the head-lift and sit-ups maneuvers varied significantly, depending primarily on age. Children in all age groups had less difficulty performing the leg-lift than the head-lift or sit-ups. The normal total CMAS-9 score was age dependent.
Conclusions: The normative data generated by this study are of value for interpreting the CMAS scores of children with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies.