Identification of complications and control of comorbidities are essential in monitoring the patients with chronic disorders of consciousness and predicting their outcomes. The researchers of the Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences of the University of L'Aquila (Italy) developed the Comorbidities Coma Scale (CoCoS) for a comprehensive assessment of such patients. Lack of an officially validated version of the scale hampers its use in Russia, while using versions which have not been completely validated prevents clinicians from obtaining reliable results when examining patients with chronic disorders of consciousness.   Aim. To develop the official Russian language version of the Comorbidities Coma Scale, considering various linguistic and cultural parameters, as a part of the 1st stage of the validation study.   Material and methods. The first stage of validation was completed: direct and reverse translation of the scale was performed by two independent medical translators. The translated version was assessed by an expert board including an expert translator, neurologists, and critical care specialists. Pilot test and two meetings of the expert board, before and after testing, were arranged to assess the results and approve the final Russian version of the scale.   Results. During the first meeting of the expert board, corrections were made in the Russian language version of the scale in terms of language and cultural adaptation. Pilot testing was carried out based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The researchers had no difficulties in understanding and interpreting the instructions for the scale. The second meeting of the expert board was held thereupon, and the final version of the Russian language version of the scale was adopted, which is available on the website of the Center for Validation of Health Status Questionnaires and Scales of the Research Center of Neurology.   Conclusion. The first stage of validation, i. e., linguistic and cultural adaptation, was carried out at the Research Center of Neurology (Moscow, Russia). For the first time, the Russian version of the scale for assessing comorbidities in patients with chronic disorders of consciousness was presented and approved for the practical use. The future publications will address the psychometric results of the scale such as sensitivity, validity, reliability.

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INTRODUCTION An increase in the survival rate of patients with severe brain injuries of various origins determines the relevance of the search for approaches to assessing the prognosis of changes in the state of patients with chronic disorders of consciousness (CDC). Concomitant diseases are predictors of the recovery of consciousness and functional independence of patients with CDC. To assess the impact of the level of comorbidity on the prognosis of the patient state, the Comorbidities Coma Scale (CoCoS) is used abroad. However, the lack of a Russian-language version of this scale limits the practical and scientific areas of work with this category of patients.THE AIM of the study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the developed Russian version of the Comorbidities Coma Scale (CoCoS).MATERIALS AND METHODS As part of the validation study, an assessment of psychometric properties (reliability, validity, sensitivity) was performed on a group of 52 adult patients with traumatic (18/52) and non-traumatic (34/52) brain damage.RESULTS High levels of validity and reliability were obtained (the Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient r=0.98 (p<0.0001), Cronbach’s alpha α=0.73 (p<0.001), Cohen’s kappa κ=0.72 (p<0.0001)). However, when evaluating the CoCoS sensitivity, there were no statistically significant changes in the parameters (p=0.316).CONCLUSION In the present study, a sufficient level of psychometric properties of the Russian-language version of the CoCoS was obtained, which opens up the possibility of a quantitative assessment of comorbidities in unresponsive patients both in scientific research and clinical practice. The scale is available for download on the website of the Group for Validation of International Scales and Questionnaires of the Research Center of Neurology.