Journal of clinical epidemiology
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Covariate adjustment increased power in randomized controlled trials: an example in traumatic brain injury.
We aimed to determine to what extent covariate adjustment could affect power in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a heterogeneous population with traumatic brain injury (TBI). ⋯ Moderate gains in power may be obtained using covariate adjustment from logistic regression in heterogeneous conditions such as TBI. Although analyses of RCTs might consider covariate adjustment to improve power, we caution against this approach in the planning of RCTs.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
"Might" or "suggest"? No wording approach was clearly superior in conveying the strength of recommendation.
To compare different wording approaches for conveying the strength of health care recommendations. ⋯ No wording approach was clearly superior in conveying the strength of recommendation. Guideline developers need to make the connection between the wording and their intended strength explicit.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Rasch analysis supports the use of the depression, anxiety, and stress scales to measure mood in groups but not in individuals with chronic low back pain.
Chronic pain is a common problem that is associated with mood disorders such as depression. The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS-21) questionnaire is commonly used to help measure disordered mood. In this study, we used Rasch analysis to analyze the clinimetric properties of the DASS-21 in a chronic low back pain sample. ⋯ This is the first study that used Rasch analysis to demonstrate that the DASS-21 subscales demonstrate adequate measurement properties for research involving groups with chronic pain. Only the DASS-21 depression subscale demonstrated adequate reliability for use with individuals with chronic pain. The use of a single DASS-21 aggregate score as a measure of "negative affect" was not supported.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Quebec Back Pain Disability Scale was responsive and showed reasonable interpretability after a multidisciplinary treatment.
To investigate responsiveness and interpretability of the Quebec Back Pain Disability Scale. ⋯ This study proposes values for responsiveness and interpretability indicators for patients with chronic low back pain referred for multidisciplinary treatment. The baseline score and the way to cluster patients with regard to this score have to be taken into account while interpreting the score change after treatment.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
First item response theory analysis on Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (fear of movement) in arthritis.
To conduct the initial modern measurement theory analyses because of its many advantages on the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia and emerging evidence suggesting that fear of movement influences functional disability in people with arthritis. ⋯ Item response theory analyses looked at each item's performance and we can strongly suggest using our modified scale (11 items out of the 16 items), which provides relatively uniform precision of measurement across a wide range of fear of movement in people with arthritis. The item parameters from this study can build a computerized adaptive testing for this scale.