The reliability and validity of an Arabic version of the modified Japanese Orthopedic Association score for cervical myelopathy

Purpose: The modified Japanese Orthopedic Association score (mJOA) is considered as one of the most comprehensive scores in assessment of patients with cervical myelopathy. Hence, comes the need for providing a validated, translated and cross-culturally adapted versions in different languages in order to standardize patient’s evaluation. This study aims to translate and validate an Arabic version of the mJOA.

Methods: 65 patients of variable age and etiologies for compressive cervical myelopathy were recruited. Forward and backward translations were performed, followed by measurement of intra-observer and inter-observer reliability using intra-class correlation coefficient and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient.

Results: The patients had a mean age of 58.08, predominantly males (69.2%). The intra-observer reliability and inter-observer reliability showed almost perfect agreement for the different sections and the total score, with 96.8 and 97.4, respectively.

Conclusion: This study provides a reliable, cross-culturally adapted Arabic version of mJOA for cervical myelopathy patients. Although the study was conducted on Egyptian patients, we believe it could be implemented with majority of Arabic speaking population.