Publications by authors named "Caroline Terwee"

Background: The COSMIN checklist is a standardized tool for assessing the methodological quality of studies on measurement properties. It contains 9 boxes, each dealing with one measurement property, with 5-18 items per box about design aspects and statistical methods. Our aim was to develop a scoring system for the COSMIN checklist to calculate quality scores per measurement property when using the checklist in systematic reviews of measurement properties.

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Background: Several disease-specific questionnaires to measure pain and disability in patients with neck pain have been translated. However, a simple translation of the original version doesn't guarantee similar measurement properties. The objective of this study is to critically appraise the quality of the translation process, cross-cultural validation and the measurement properties of translated versions of neck-specific questionnaires.

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Objective: The aim of this study was to obtain an overview of the methodological quality of studies on the measurement properties of neck pain and disability questionnaires and to describe how well various aspects of the design and statistical analyses of studies on measurement properties are performed.

Methods: A systematic review was performed of published studies on the measurement properties of neck pain and disability questionnaires. Two reviewers independently rated the quality of the studies using the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) checklist.

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Objectives: To evaluate: (1) whether instruments which intend to measure participation actually do and (2) how frequently specific aspects and domains of participation are addressed.

Data Sources: A systematic search was performed in PubMed.

Study Selection: Included were patient-reported instruments that primarily aim to measure participation.

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Objective: We evaluated the ability of a novel automatic index based on area strain to reliably quantify global and regional left ventricular (LV) function and accurately identify wall motion (WM) abnormalities using three-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography.

Methods: A total of 140 consecutive patients underwent two- and three-dimensional echocardiography. Segmental WM assessment by area strain was compared with visual assessment of two-dimensional images by two experienced echocardiographers.

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Background: To assess a pulmonary function change over time the mass flow sensor and the pneumotachograph are widely used in commercially available instruments. However, the smallest detectable change for both devices has never been compared. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine the smallest detectable change in vital capacity (VC) and single-breath diffusion parameters measured by mass flow sensor and or pneumotachograph.

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High quality instruments are useful tools for clinical and research purposes. To determine whether an instrument has high quality, measurement properties such as reliability and validity need to be assessed, using standardised criteria. This paper discusses these quality domains and measurement properties using the standardised criteria that were recently published by the COSMIN group.

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Background: The COSMIN checklist is a tool for evaluating the methodological quality of studies on measurement properties of health-related patient-reported outcomes. The aim of this study is to determine the inter-rater agreement and reliability of each item score of the COSMIN checklist (n = 114).

Methods: 75 articles evaluating measurement properties were randomly selected from the bibliographic database compiled by the Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Group, Oxford, UK.

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Background: Previously two prediction rules identifying children at risk of hearing loss and academic or behavioral limitations after bacterial meningitis were developed. Streptococcus pneumoniae as causative pathogen was an important risk factor in both. Since 2006 Dutch children receive seven-valent conjugate vaccination against S.

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Article Synopsis
  • Bacterial meningitis (BM) is a serious infection in children that can lead to high mortality and significant long-term effects, highlighting the need for timely identification of high-risk patients for better treatment outcomes.
  • A systematic review of 31 studies revealed 15 of moderate to high quality; however, significant differences in study methods prevented a quantitative analysis of prognostic factors.
  • Key factors linked to worse outcomes included prolonged symptoms before admission, coma, prolonged seizures and fever, shock, young age, and specific cerebrospinal fluid characteristics, indicating the need for further well-structured research to clarify these factors’ predictive value.
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Study Objectives: The Child Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) was developed in the US for measuring medical and behavioral sleep disorders in school-aged children. This study was conducted to assess the reliability and structural validity of the Dutch version of the CSHQ.

Design: Population-based study.

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Objective: To systematically review and appraise studies examining self-administered physical activity questionnaires (PAQ) for the elderly. This article is one of a group of four articles in Sports Medicine on the content and measurement properties of PAQs. LITERATURE SEARCH METHODOLOGY: Searches in PubMed, EMBASE and SportDiscu (until May 2009) on self-administered PAQ.

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Many questionnaires have been developed to measure physical activity (PA), but an overview of the measurement properties of PA questionnaires is lacking. A summary of this information is useful for choosing the best questionnaire available. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate and compare measurement properties of self-administered questionnaires assessing PA in adults.

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Because of the diversity in available questionnaires, it is not easy for researchers to decide which instrument is most suitable for his or her specific demands. Therefore, we systematically summarized and appraised studies examining measurement properties of self-administered and proxy-reported physical activity (PA) questionnaires in youth. Literature was identified through searching electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE using 'EMBASE only' and SportDiscus) until May 2009.

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The large number of available physical activity (PA) questionnaires makes it difficult to select the most appropriate questionnaire for a certain purpose. This choice is further hampered by incomplete reporting and unsatisfactory evaluation of the content and measurement properties of the questionnaires. We provide a checklist for appraising the qualitative attributes and measurement properties of PA questionnaires, as a tool for selecting the most appropriate PA questionnaire for a certain target population and purpose.

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Objective: Lack of consensus on taxonomy, terminology, and definitions has led to confusion about which measurement properties are relevant and which concepts they represent. The aim was to clarify and standardize terminology and definitions of measurement properties by reaching consensus among a group of experts and to develop a taxonomy of measurement properties relevant for evaluating health instruments.

Study Design And Setting: An international Delphi study with four written rounds was performed.

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Background: The COSMIN checklist (COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health status Measurement INstruments) was developed in an international Delphi study to evaluate the methodological quality of studies on measurement properties of health-related patient reported outcomes (HR-PROs). In this paper, we explain our choices for the design requirements and preferred statistical methods for which no evidence is available in the literature or on which the Delphi panel members had substantial discussion.

Methods: The issues described in this paper are a reflection of the Delphi process in which 43 panel members participated.

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Background: Aim of the COSMIN study (COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health status Measurement INstruments) was to develop a consensus-based checklist to evaluate the methodological quality of studies on measurement properties. We present the COSMIN checklist and the agreement of the panel on the items of the checklist.

Methods: A four-round Delphi study was performed with international experts (psychologists, epidemiologists, statisticians and clinicians).

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Objective: There is no consensus on the best method to determine the minimal important change (MIC) of patient-reported outcomes. Recent publications recommend the use of multiple methods. Our aim was to assess whether different methods lead to consistent values for the MIC.

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Objectives: For the measurement of patient-reported outcomes, such as (health-related) quality of life, often many measurement instruments exist that intend to measure the same construct. To facilitate instrument selection, our aim was to develop a highly sensitive search filter for finding studies on measurement properties of measurement instruments in PubMed and a more precise search filter that needs less abstracts to be screened, but at a higher risk of missing relevant studies.

Methods: A random sample of 10,000 PubMed records (01-01-1990 to 31-12-2006) was used as a gold standard.

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Objective: Determining "minimally important change" (MIC) facilitates the interpretation of change scores on multi-item instruments. This article focuses on how MIC values should be interpreted when applied to individual patients.

Study Design And Setting: The MIC value of a hypothetical questionnaire "Q" was determined in a sample of 400 patients who improved and 100 patients who did not improve, using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) method, and three methods to quantify the uncertainty.

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Purpose: To evaluate the psychometrics of the SF-36 Health Survey among Turkish and Moroccan ethnic minority populations in the Netherlands and to compare the results to those based on the indigenous Dutch population.

Methods: Data were derived from the Second Dutch National Survey of General Practice. In total, SF-36 data were available for 409 Turkish, 377 Moroccan, and 9,628 Dutch respondents.

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A critique of Hankins, M: 'How discriminating are discriminative instruments?' Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2008, 6:36.

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Objective: Tuberculous meningitis is the most severe extrapulmonary complication of tuberculosis, with high morbidity and mortality rates. The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between presenting clinical characteristics and outcome of pediatric tuberculous meningitis.

Patients And Methods: We present a retrospective cohort study of all of the children diagnosed with tuberculous meningitis in a large university hospital in South Africa between January 1985 and April 2005.

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