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National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale

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Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology

Synonyms

NIHSS

Description

The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) is a 15-item measure of the effect of acute stroke on a variety of areas including level of consciousness, neglect, motor strength, facial palsy, ataxia, dysarthria, and sensory loss.

Historical Background

The NIHSS was originally developed as a means of measuring baseline data for patients involved in acute stroke clinical trials. In 2001, Lyden established the modified NIHSS (mNIHSS) by deleting items with poor reliability or redundancy and collapsing the sensory item into two responses. The NIHSS has also been translated into a variety of languages including Portuguese, Spanish, French, and German.

Psychometric Data

The NIHSS has well-demonstrated reliability and validity (“Test Reliability” and “Test Validity”) except for certain specific items (i.e., level of consciousness, facial palsy, limb ataxia, and dysarthria), which were recently shown to be unreliable. The elimination of these items for the...

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References and Readings

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Cincinnati, P.O. Box 670394, Cincinnati, OH, 45267-0394, USA

    Kari Dunning

Authors
  1. Kari Dunning
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Correspondence to Kari Dunning .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Richmond, Virgin Islands, USA

    Jeffrey Kreutzer

  2. Kessler Foundation , West Orange, New Jersey, USA

    John DeLuca

  3. Suite 200 , Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, USA

    Bruce Caplan

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Dunning, K. (2017). National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale. In: Kreutzer, J., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56782-2_1822-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56782-2_1822-2

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-56782-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-56782-2

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