• Willemien P E de Kleijn, Jolanda De Vries, Petal A H M Wijnen, and Marjolein Drent.
• Center of Research on Psychology in Somatic Diseases (CoRPS), Department of Medical Psychology, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
• Respir Med. 2011 Sep 1;105(9):1388-95.

ObjectiveThe usefulness of any questionnaire in clinical management and research trials depends on its ability to indicate a likelihood of treatment success during follow-up. The Minimal Clinically Important Difference (MCID) reflects a clinically relevant change score. The aim of this study was to estimate the MCID for the Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS) in patients with sarcoidosis.MethodsOutpatients (n = 321) of the ild care team of the Department of Respiratory Medicine of the Maastricht University Medical Centre, The Netherlands, participated in this prospective follow-up study. Anchor-based and distribution-based methods were used to estimate the MCID. Based on the anchor Physical Quality of Life, a Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) was obtained. The distribution-based methods consisted of the Effect Size and Standard Error Measurement (SEM).ResultsThe anchor-based MCID found with ROC was 3.5. The distribution-based methods showed that the corresponding change scores in the FAS for a small effect was 4.2. The SEM criterion was 3.6 points change in the FAS.ConclusionsBased on the anchor-based and distribution-based methods, the MCID is a 4-point difference on the FAS. This MCID can be used in the follow-up of fatigue (FAS) in clinical trials and in the management of individual sarcoidosis cases.Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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