Development and clinical validation of a stroke-specific Gait Deviation Index.

The validation sample was small, especially the independent test group of 14 post-stroke adults. Only people who could walk independently without canes, crutches, walkers, ankle-foot orthoses, or therapist support were included, so it does not address patients with more severe gait impairment. Data came from one session per person, so between-session reliability was not tested. Healthy controls were much younger than the post-stroke groups, and some stroke participants had strokes in early childhood, making the reference pattern heterogeneous. Relationships with clinical scales and spatiotemporal variables were weak, and the paper did not statistically compare the STR-GDI and GDI regression models. No force plates or kinetic data were collected, and the index was built only from lower-limb kinematics. This was a retrospective analysis of routine de-identified clinical data, not a trial of a treatment or of STR-GDI-guided care.

Funded by Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC). The supplied text does not report author conflicts of interest or state that the funder designed, analysed, or wrote the study.

Do not conclude that STR-GDI improves stroke rehabilitation or predicts function better than the original GDI. It fit post-stroke gait curves more closely in a small lab sample, but its scores were similar to GDI scores and its correlations with clinical measures were weak.