Search results for "Spearman's rank correlation coefficient"

Multi-centre validation of a flow cytometry method to identify optimal responders to interferon-beta in multiple sclerosis.

2018

Background and objectives: Percentages of blood CD19 + CD5 + B cells and CD8 + perforin + T lymphocytes can predict response to Interferon (IFN)-beta treatment in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients. We aimed to standardize their detection in a multicenter study, prior to their implementation in clinical practice. Methods: Fourteen hospitals participated in the study. A reference centre was established for comparison studies. Peripheral blood cells of 105 untreated RRMS patients were studied. Every sample was analyzed in duplicate in the participating centre and in the reference one by flow cytometry. When needed, participating centres corrected fluorescence compensations…

Late Breaking Abstract - Validation of a tool for the assessment of disease awareness (DA) in COPD

2017

Background: DA could influence adherence to treatment and outcomes. No validated tools are available to assess DA in COPD Aims: To generate a tool able to explore DA in COPD patients, the Disease Awareness in COPD Questionnaire (DACQ) Methods: A 2-step Delphi approach was used to develop a questionnaire that was tested for validity in a cohort of COPD patients of an Italian observational, multicenter, prospective study (SAT study - NCT02689492) Results: Consensus on a 27-item provisional questionnaire was obtained with 2 Delphi rounds. Factor analysis showed a 4-factor solution accounting for 35% of variance; each factor (disease acceptance, awareness of treatment needs, disease knowledge, …

Is the Kidscreen-27 a valid measure of health-related quality of life in 10-year-old Norwegian children?

2015

The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of the Norwegian Kidscreen-27 questionnaire, a measure of generic health-related quality of life, in 10 year-old children. The Kidscreen-27 consists of five domains and was validated in a sample of 56 school children (29 boys). The children completed the questionnaire at three different time points during two consecutive school days. For convergent validity, the study was powered to detect a statistically significant correlation coefficient of 0.4. Cronbach's alpha values ranged from 0.73 to 0.83. Floor effects were all zero and ceiling effects ranged from 1.7% to 23.7%. Intraclass correlation values over time ranged from…

Agreement among 3 optical imaging methods for the assessment of optic disc topography.

2005

Purpose To assess the agreement of disc topography measurements between the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph (HRT II), Retinal Thickness Analyzer (RTA), and Optical Coherence Tomograph (StratusOCT). Design Observational cross-sectional study. Participants Forty-two randomly chosen eyes of 42 subjects. Methods Each subject underwent HRT II, RTA, and StratusOCT examination. Two experienced examiners drew the contour lines for the HRT II and RTA. Bland and Altman plots were used to evaluate agreement for each topographic parameter among the instruments. The Spearman coefficient of rank correlation was evaluated for each topographic parameter. Main Outcome Measures Agreement in the measurement of op…

Tracking of Television Viewing Time during Adulthood: The Young Finns Study.

2016

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the tracking of television viewing (TV) time as an indicator of sedentary behavior among adults for a period of 25 yr. Methods: A random sample of 1601 subjects (740 men) age 18, 21, and 24 yr participated in the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study in 1986. TV time during leisure time was measured with a single self-report question at baseline and in 2001, 2007, and 2011. Tracking of TV time was analyzed using Spearman rank correlations and simplex models. Level and change of TV time were examined using linear growth modeling. Results: The 4- and 6-yr integrated TV time stability coefficients, adjusted for measurement errors, were Q0.60…

Reliability and Validity of Family Affluence Scale (FAS II) among Adolescents in Beijing, China

2011

This study comprises two sub-studies. Study I assessed the test-retest reliability of Family Affluence Scale (FAS II) items among 95 students aged 11 and 15 years old in Beijing. Study II investigated the completion rate of traditional indicators (parents’ educational level, perceived family wealth, resident area, and school location) measuring socioeconomic status (SES) compared with FAS II, and examined the internal reliability, external and construct validity of the FAS II items in a population of 5876 schoolchildren aged 11, 13 and 15 years old in Beijing. Our study found that the FAS II items have high completion rates (> 99%) which are better than other SES indicators. Analyses of rel…

Psychometric properties of the Norwegian version of the Kidscreen-27 questionnaire

2016

Background The Norwegian version of the Kidscreen-27, a measure of generic health-related quality of life, has not yet been validated. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of the Norwegian Kidscreen-27, in 10 year-old children. Methods The Kidscreen-27 consists of five domains and was validated in a cross-sectional study of 1085 school children (52.5 % boys). In addition a subsample of 56 children also had repeated measures in order to study test-retest reliability. Results Cronbach's alpha values ranged from 0.73 to 0.83, while intraclass correlation values over time ranged from 0.71 to 0.81. The domains of physical well-being, psychological well-bein…

Country-specific correlations across Europe between modelled atmospheric cadmium and lead deposition and concentrations in mosses

2012

Previous analyses at the European scale have shown that cadmium and lead concentrations in mosses are primarily determined by the total deposition of these metals. Further analyses in the current study show that Spearman rank correlations between the concentration in mosses and the deposition modelled by the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) are country and metal-specific. Significant positive correlations were found for about two thirds or more of the participating countries in 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005 (except for Cd in 1990). Correlations were often not significant and sometimes negative in countries where mosses were only sampled in a relatively small number of EMEP gr…

Evaluation of Erythema Severity in Dermatoscopic Images of Canine Skin: Erythema Index Assessment and Image Sampling Reliability.

2021

The regular monitoring of erythema, one of the most important skin lesions in atopic (allergic) dogs, is essential for successful anti-allergic therapy. The smartphone-based dermatoscopy enables a convenient way to acquire quality images of erythematous skin. However, the image sampling to evaluate erythema severity is still done manually, introducing result variability. In this study, we investigated the correlation between the most popular erythema indices (EIs) and dermatologists’ erythema perception, and we measured intra- and inter-rater variability of the currently-used manual image-sampling methods (ISMs). We showed that the EIBRG, based on all three RGB (red, green, and blue) channe…

2019

Aims To report corneal topometric and aberrometric values in mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) and to investigate their correlation with biomechanical corneal parameters. Methods One randomly chosen eye of 20 MPS patients with no to moderate corneal clouding and one eye of 23 healthy controls with comparable age were prospectively included into this study. Corneal surface regularity was assessed by index of surface variance (ISV), -vertical asymmetry (IVA), -height asymmetry (IHA), -height decentration (IHD); keratoconus index (KI), central keratoconus index (CKI) and Zernike indices of anterior and posterior corneal surface using Scheimpflug imaging (Pentacam). Corneal resistance factor (CRF) an…