Objective measurement of oral function in adults with spinal muscular atrophy

Table 4 Correlations between oral function and established clinical outcome scales

		BODS	HFMSE	RULM	ALSFRS-R	6MWT
Max. bite force	Spearman’s ρ	− 0.434*	0.384	0.372	0.388	0.409*
	p-value	0.004	0.012	0.014	0.010	0.006
	N	43	42	43	43	43
Bite force endurance	Spearman’s ρ	− 0.265	0.236	0.162	0.185	0.277
	p-value	0.085	0.132	0.299	0.236	0.072
	N	43	42	43	43	43
Max. tongue pressure	Spearman’s ρ	− 0.571*	.596*	0.668*	0.602*	0.580*
	p-value	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001
	N	43	42	43	43	43
Tongue pressure endurance	Spearman’s ρ	− 0.141	0.030	0.030	0.149	0.046
	p-value	0.367	0.850	0.851	0.341	0.771
	N	43	42	43	43	43
Max. mouth opening	Spearman’s ρ	− 0.557*	0.703*	0.705*	0.661*	0.482*
	p-value	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001	0.001
	N	43	42	43	43	43

ρ = Correlation coefficient
*Correlation is stat. significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed tests; Bonferroni corrected)
BODS Bogenhausener Dysphagia Score (higher scores indicate more severe dysphagia); HFMSE Hammersmith Functional Motor Scale; RULM Revised Upper Limb Module; ALSFRS-R: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale Revised; 6MWT: 6-min-walk test

ISSN: 1750-1172