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PubMed2004

Measurement properties of a nicotine dependence scale for adolescents.

This paper reports on the measurement properties of a scale intended to measure nicotine dependence in adolescents using data from the American Legacy Longitudinal Tobacco Use Reduction Study. The Nicotine Dependence Scale for Adolescents (NDSA) is a simple linear sum of items associated with behaviors to avoid withdrawal and items associated with experiences of craving. An exploratory factor analysis indicated that the items formed a single scale. The reliability of the scale was assessed by estimating Cronbach's alpha for the scale items. The estimated alpha reliability was.81. The scale's validity was assessed by estimating the correlation between the scale and measures of smoking and quitting behaviors. As hypothesized, the scale was positively correlated with lifetime number of cigarettes smoked (r=.44, p<.001), days smoked in the past 30 days (r=.66, p<.001), cigarettes smoked per day on days smoked (r=.61, p<.001), and number of quit attempts (r=.10, p<.001) and negatively correlated with the length of the quit attempt (r=-.22, p<.001). We also examined the measurement properties of the NDSA separately for middle and high school students and by gender and race or ethnicity. We found no meaningful differences in the measurement properties of the NDSA across these groups. The six-item self-report NDSA had good measurement properties in our sample.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Health anxiety in children: development and psychometric properties of the Childhood Illness Attitude Scales.

The course of severe anxiety surrounding health issues is unknown. The available literature suggests that adults who are overly anxious about health issues often interpret or misinterpret their bodily signs and symptoms to be indicative of a serious illness. The construct of health anxiety has not been examined in children and, to date, there has not been an instrument developed for this purpose. The Illness Attitude Scales is one of the most commonly used instruments for evaluating fears, beliefs, and attitudes that are associated with hypochondriasis and abnormal illness behaviour in adults. We sought to adapt the Illness Attitude Scales for use with children ages 8-15 years. The adapted Illness Attitude Scales was renamed the Childhood Illness Attitude Scales. Revisions to the adult version consisted of simplification of language, revision of Likert scale (i.e. 5-point to 3-point scale), and the addition of 7 questions to evaluate the role parents/guardians play in facilitating medical attention or treatment. Correlations between Childhood Illness Attitude Scales total scores and other self-report measures were supportive of the construct-related validity of the Childhood Illness Attitude Scales and suggested that it is a useful measure of health anxiety in school-age children. Practical and theoretical implications of the present results are discussed.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

A comparison of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale for "heavy drinking" with a single item craving measure: construct validity and clinical utility.

The measurement of alcohol "craving" began with single-item scales. Multifactorial scales developed with the intention to capture more fully the phenomenon of craving. This study examines the construct validity of a multifactorial scale, the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale for heavy drinking (Y-BOCS-hd). The study compares its clinical utility with a single item visual-analogue craving scale. The study includes 212 alcohol dependent subjects (127 males, 75 females) undertaking an outpatient treatment program between 1999-2001. Subjects completed the Y-BOCS-hd and a single item visual-analogue scale, in addition to alcohol consumption and dependence severity measures. The Y-BOCS-hd had strong construct validity. Both the visual-analogue alcohol craving scale and Y-BOCS-hd were weakly associated with pretreatment dependence severity. There was a significant association between pretreatment alcohol consumption and the visual-analogue craving scale. Neither craving measure was able to predict total program abstinence or days abstinent. The relationship between obsessive-compulsive behavior in alcohol dependence and craving remains unclear.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Performance status assessment in home hospice patients using a modified form of the Karnofsky Performance Status Scale.

The Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) scale is considered to be the gold standard for quantifying the physical functioning of patients with cancer. However, problems have been identified with the scoring system when the scale is used in the home hospice setting. The goal of this study was to compare assessments of performance status using two instruments, the KPS and a modified version, the Thorne-KPS (TKPS). The TKPS avoids reference to location of care and has new descriptors for assessing the frequency of professional visits and the proportion of time spent in bed. Comparisons were made on a sample of 78 home-hospice patients in Perth, Western Australia. The median score for both scales was 60. The scales agreed in 56% of ratings overall but after correcting for chance, agreement was reduced to 47%. However, 91% of the 34 discrepancies occurred within one or two levels of the 11-point scale. TKPS scores were consistently lower than KPS scores and were spread over a wider range of the scale. The strongest agreement occurred at the higher levels of performance and the weakest agreement was within the middle levels of the scales. Further studies are required to determine which of the two scales more accurately reflects performance status and survival time. However, the results to date suggest that the TKPS may be a more objective and sensitive measure of functional performance in home hospice patients.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1991

Scale model studies of the transport of airborne pollutants on coalfaces.

Studies have been carried out to investigate airflows in coalmine models, with special regard to the transport of airborne pollutants, and to examine how they relate to what happens at full-scale in an actual underground mine. If such models can be shown to provide data representative of actual mine ventilation engineering, then they can provide cost-effective alternatives to full-scale investigations. The work set out in the first instance to identify the properties of: (a) the bulk airflow and associated transport of airborne pollutants along a longwall coalface; and (b) the transport of material out of regions that were partially enclosed or poorly ventilated (e.g. in the cutting zone, in headings). For the former, an appropriate quantity is the dispersivity of the coalface airflow, for the latter the mean retention time. Both quantities may be rendered non-dimensional with respect to dimensions characteristic of the system and to velocities of the airflow. Their behaviour in relation to a third dimensionless quantity, the flow Reynolds' number is also important. Experiments were performed, using smoke or dust tracers, to investigate how these properties are interrelated and how they scale between small-scale and full-scale systems. They were carried out in a 1/10-scale laboratory model, in a full-scale surface model, and underground in an actual coalmine. The basis of most of the experiments was the 'tracer decay' method, in which the transport properties of the aerodynamic system under investigation were determined from observations of the changes in tracer concentration with time immediately following the removal of the tracer source. During these experiments, the feasibility of using small-scale models to investigate ventilation problems was clearly indicated and preliminary scaling relationships which may be used as an initial basis for predicting the transport and local build-up of pollutants in mines were developed. It is expected that applications of the ideas and methodology described will be relevant to other industries.

Air Movements↗
PubMed2006

The floral scales in Hellmuthia (Cyperaceae, Cyperoideae) and Paramapania (Cyperaceae, Mapanioideae): an ontogenetic study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: In 1976 the monotypic genus Hellmuthia was placed in the Hypolytreae s.l., but was subsequently ascribed to the Mapanioideae, tribe Chrysitricheae, mainly because of the presence in Hellmuthia of two lateral, mapanioid-like floral scales with ciliated keels, the anatomy of the nutlet, the embryo and the inflorescence. Recently, based on cladistic analyses and supported by pollen ontogenetic evidence, Hellmuthia was transferred to a Cyperaceae, tribe Cypereae, clade mainly consisting of Ficinia and Isolepis. In this study, the floral ontogeny in Hellmuthia was investigated and compared with the floral ontogeny in Paramapania, with special attention for the floral scales. METHODS: Freshly collected inflorescences of Hellmuthia membranacea and Paramapania parvibractea were investigated using scanning electron and light microscopy. KEY RESULTS: In the conical 'spikelet' in Hellmuthia, proximal bracts occur, each axillating an axis with empty glume-like structures, or a reduced spikelet. Hence, it is a reduced partial inflorescence. In Hellmuthia, the stamen primordia originate before the primordia of the perianth-gynoecium appear. Moreover, a third adaxially positioned 'floral scale' was observed for the first time. The position and relative time of appearance of the floral scales in Hellmuthia are typical for perianth parts in Cyperoideae. The basal position of Hellmuthia within a clade of species with usually perianthless flowers, allows the presence of rudiments of a perianth in Hellmuthia to be interpreted as a primitive state. Development of the lateral 'scales' in Paramapania follows a different pattern. Therefore, it was decided that the lateral 'scales' in Paramapania are different from the lateral perianth parts in Hellmuthia. The pollen grains in Hellmuthia are cyperoid, with one polar and five lateral apertures, of which the membrane is covered with sexinous bodies. The pollen surface is granulate and perforate with microspines. CONCLUSIONS: The floral ontogeny in Hellmuthia occurs according to the general cyperoid pattern. The lateral scales in Hellmuthia are perianth parts, and they are not homologous to the lateral 'scales' in Paramapania.

Cyperaceae↗
PubMed2001

The Multiple Sclerosis Impact Scale (MSIS-29): a new patient-based outcome measure.

Changes in health policy have underlined the importance of evidence-based clinical practice and rigorous evaluation of patient-based outcomes. As patient-based outcome measurement is particularly important in treatment trials of multiple sclerosis, a number of disease-specific instruments have been developed recently. One limitation of these instruments is that none was developed using the standard psychometric approach of reducing a large item pool generated from people with multiple sclerosis. Consequently, an outcome measure for clinical trials of multiple sclerosis that is disease specific and combines patient perspective with rigorous psychometric methods will complement existing instruments. The aim of this study was to develop such a measure. Standard psychometric methods were used. A pool of 129 questionnaire items was generated from interviews with 30 people with multiple sclerosis, expert opinion and literature review. The questionnaire was administered by postal survey to 1530 people selected randomly from the Multiple Sclerosis Society membership database. Redundant items and those with limited measurement properties were removed. The remaining items (n = 41) were grouped into scales using factor analysis, and then refined to form the Multiple Sclerosis Impact Scale (MSIS-29), an instrument measuring the physical (20 items) and psychological (nine items) impact of multiple sclerosis. Five psychometric properties of the MSIS-29 (data quality, scaling assumptions, acceptability, reliability and validity) were examined in a separate postal survey of 1250 Multiple Sclerosis Society members. A preliminary responsiveness study of the MSIS-29 was undertaken in 55 people admitted for rehabilitation and intravenous steroid treatment of relapses. The MSIS-29 satisfied all psychometric criteria. Data quality was excellent, missing data were low (maximum 3.9%), item test-re-test reliability was high (r = 0.65-0.90) and scale scores could be generated for >98% of respondents. Item descriptive statistics, item convergent and discriminant validity, and factor analysis indicated that it was legitimate to generate scores for MSIS-29 scales by summing items. MSIS-29 scales showed good variability, small floor and ceiling effects, high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha <or=0.91) and high test-re-test reliability (intraclass correlation <or=0.87). Correlations with other measures and the analysis of group differences provided evidence that the MSIS-29 measures the physical and psychological impact of multiple sclerosis. Effect sizes (physical scale = 0.82, psychological scale = 0.66) demonstrated preliminary evidence of good responsiveness. These results indicate the MSIS-29 is a clinically useful and scientifically sound patient-based outcome measure of the impact of multiple sclerosis suitable for clinical trials and epidemiological studies.

Evidence-Based Medicine↗
PubMed2000

Contrast and range effects for category, magnitude and labeled magnitude scales in judgements of sweetness intensity.

The labeled magnitude scale (LMS) is a verbally anchored quasi-logarithmically spaced response scale with properties similar to magnitude estimation. Three experiments examined whether the LMS showed context effects similar to those found with magnitude estimation and category scales. Two versions of the LMS were used, one anchored at the high end to the strongest imaginable sweetness and the other to the strongest imaginable oral sensation. In a simple contrast experiment, subjects judged the sweetness of a 10% sucrose fruit beverage in the context of a less sweet (5%) beverage or a more sweet (20%) beverage. Consistent with previous literature, the sweetness was judged more intense in the low context and less intense in the high context, for all scaling methods. In a second experiment, this effect persisted (although was smaller) when the contextual item preceded the to-be-rated item, a so-called 'reversed-pair' design. Once again, the effect was highly significant for all scaling methods. In a third experiment, a range effect was examined using wide and narrow ranges of concentration. Psychophysical functions were flatter in a wide context and steeper in a narrow context, consistent with previous observations on range-mapping bias. This result was obtained for all scales. In three common contextual effects, the labeled magnitude scale behaved similarly to other scaling procedures. Its application to comparisons across individuals may be limited if those individuals have different experiential contexts within which they make their judgements.

Female↗
PubMed1995

The Activities-specific Balance Confidence (ABC) Scale.

BACKGROUND: This study provides a replication of the Falls Efficacy Scale (FES) and a head-to-head comparison with the Activities-specific Balance Confidence (ABC) Scale designed to include a wider continuum of activity difficulty and more detailed item descriptors. METHODS: Items for the newly developed 16-item ABC Scale were generated by 15 clinicians and 12 elderly outpatients. Psychometric testing involved 60 community seniors (aged 65-95) self-classified as either high or low in mobility confidence according to their perceived need for a walking aid and personal assistance to ambulate outdoors. RESULTS: Both the FES and ABC scales were found to be internally consistent and demonstrated good test-retest reliability, convergent and criterion validity. Scalogram analyses indicated a stronger cumulative scale in the case of the ABC and skewness in the distribution of FES scores. While both scales were able to discriminate between the two mobility groups, the ABC scale was a more efficient discriminator and yielded a wider range of responses. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provided additional psychometric support for the FES. However, the greater item responsiveness of the ABC scale makes it more suitable to detect loss of balancing confidence in more highly functioning seniors. Greater situation-specificity of items may also assist clinicians in targeting appropriate interventions.

Accidental Falls↗
PubMed1980

The measurement of happiness: development of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Scale of Happiness (MUNSH).

Items of the Affect Balance Scale, the Life Satisfaction Index-Z and the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Scale together with 22 new items were used in the construction of a happiness scale for the elderly. Items were initially administered to 301 subjects from urban, rural, and institutional settings and correlated with ratings of happiness. A new scale consisting of 24 items was cross-validated on an additional 297 subjects. Test-retest reliability scores were obtained on 56 subjects. Results indicated that the new scale was a better predictor of "avowed happiness" in both validation and cross-validation samples than the existing scales used for comparison. Moreover, the new scale's test-rated reliability was within an acceptable range for this type of scale.

Aged↗
PubMed2005

Node-injury scale to evaluate root injury by corn rootworms (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae).

Corn rootworm larval feeding on corn roots can significantly reduce grain yield by interfering with photosynthetic rates, limiting the uptake of water and nutrients, and by increasing the plant's susceptibility to lodging. Of the techniques developed to measure the efficacy of corn rootworm larval control tactics, root damage ratings have generally been adopted as the standard because sampling roots is relatively efficient. Historically, the primary scales used for scoring root injury from corn rootworm larval feeding have been the 1-6 and 1-9 scales. A critical deficiency of those scales, however, is that each increase in a root-rating score does not reflect a linear increase in the actual amount of injury to the root system. This results in injury scores that are expressed qualitatively. We developed the node-injury scale to more accurately quantify corn rootworm larval injury based on the proportion of nodal roots that contain feeding injury. With the node-injury scale, the relationship between the numerical scale and the amount of root injury is linear and intuitive. In this article, we describe the node-injury scale, discuss sampling issues to consider when using the scale, and suggest the minimum node-injury score that causes economic damage under varying degrees of environmental stress.

Agriculture↗
PubMed2004

Validation of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) scale for measuring the health-related quality of life in Korean women with breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) scale, which was developed and validated in the USA, is widely used to measure the health-related quality of life in cancer patients. The purpose of the present study was to empirically validate the FACT-G scale with Korean breast cancer patients. METHODS: A convenience sample of 193 women with breast cancer was recruited from a university hospital. The subjects were asked to complete the Korean version of the FACT-G scale. The data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation to determine factor construct validity. The loading criterion was set at 0.40 and above, inter-subscale correlations were computed using Pearson correlation, and the reliability of the internal consistency for the total scale and its subscales were assessed by Cronbach's alpha. RESULTS: The factor structure of the Korean version of the FACT-G scale paralleled that of the English version: the physical, social/family, emotional, and functional well-being subscales were constructively valid in Korean breast cancer patients. However, there is the possibility of culture-specific differences in the social/family well-being subscale, and some problematic translations were revealed. Cronbach's alpha for the total scale was 0.89 and that for the subscales ranged from 0.78 to 0.90. CONCLUSION: The Korean version of the FACT-G scale was demonstrated as reliable and valid. Therefore, the scale can be used in research and clinical settings to assess the quality of life of Korean breast cancer patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Temporal scaling of molecular evolution in primates and other mammals.

Molecular clocks are routinely tested for linearity using a relative rate test and routinely calibrated against the geological time scale using a single or average paleontologically determined time of divergence between living taxa. The relative rate test is a test of parallel rate equality, not a test of rate constancy. Temporal scaling provides a test of rates, where scaling coefficients of 1.0 (isochrony) represent stochastic rate constancy. The fossil record of primates and other mammals is now known in sufficient detail to provide several independent divergence times for major taxonomic groups. Molecular difference should scale negatively or isochronically (scaling coefficients less than 1.0) with divergence time: where two or more divergence times are available, molecular difference appears to scale positively (scaling coefficient greater than 1.0). A minimum of four divergence times are required for adequate statistical power in testing the linear model: scaling is significantly nonlinear and positive in six of 11 published investigations meeting this criterion. All groups studied show some slowdown in rates of molecular change over Cenozoic time. The break from constant or increasing rates during the Mesozoic to decreasing rates during the Cenozoic appears to coincide with extraordinary diversification of placental mammals at the beginning of this era. High rates of selectively neutral molecular change may be concentrated in such discrete events of evolutionary diversification.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2000

Validation of an Italian version of the arthritis impact measurement scales 2 (ITALIAN-AIMS2) for patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. Gonarthrosis and Quality of Life Assessment (GOQOLA) Study Group.

OBJECTIVE: To validate a translated version of the revised and expanded Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales (AIMS2) to be used by Italian patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. METHODS: The AIMS2 was translated into Italian and administered to a cohort of 178 outpatients with symptomatic OA of the knee who attended 12 participating rheumatological institutes in northern, central and southern Italy. A random sample of 71 patients were readministered the AIMS2, 7 days after the first visit, to evaluate the instrument's test-retest reliability. After 6 months, the subjects were asked to return to the institutes for a second administration of the questionnaire. RESULTS: The internal consistency reliability of each scale score, as estimated by Cronbach's alpha coefficient, was high and indicated that the components of the scale measured the same construct. The items all correlated with each other, but there was no redundancy; this indicates that each domain addressed a somewhat different aspect of functional disability. The test-retest reliability equalled or exceeded 0.80 for eight of the 12 scales. Factor analysis provided a three-factor health status model explaining 63.5% of the variance. Arthritis pain and psychological scale were loaded on the first factor, together with physical scales for mobility level and walking and bending. The upper limb function scales formed the second factor. The third factor was determined by the social dimension. These results demonstrate that the physical health status scales of the AIMS2 are valid, as shown by the significant, moderate to high correlations between the AIMS2 subscales and the majority of the clinical measures. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that, like the original questionnaire, the translated version of AIMS2 is a reliable, consistent and valid instrument for measuring health status and physical functioning in patients with OA of the knee.

Aged↗
PubMed2000

Dyspnea scales in the assessment of illiterate patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

BACKGROUND: Multiple physiological, psychological, social and environmental factors may affect the perception of dyspnea. Although different scales have been used to record the severity of dyspnea in subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), none has reported evaluating the properties of such tools in illiterate patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate the reliability and features of concurrent validity of 4 dyspnea scales in illiterate (IL) subjects with COPD. METHODS: One hundred COPD patients submitted to spirometry and were asked to score their breathlessness using a visual analogue scale (VAS), a numerical rating scale (NRS), the Borg scale (BS), and the basal dyspnea index (BDI). Each scale was presented to the patients before and after they had performed spirometry and measurement of residual volume. The obtained scores were analyzed according to the literacy status of the patients. RESULTS: Thirty-three patients were classified as IL and 67 as literate (L). Both groups showed similar respiratory impairment and median scores of dyspnea (VAS, L = 45.0, IL = 49.0; NRS, L = 5.0, IL = 5.0; BS, L = 3.0, IL = 3.0; BDI, L = 5.0, IL = 4.0). No significant differences were found between the dyspnea scores obtained before and after spirometry for all scales in both groups. The degree of correlation between forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) and usual dyspnea evaluated by BDI did not show a statistical difference between the two groups (L, r = 0.37; IL, r = 0.51). CONCLUSION: The employed dyspnea scales showed comparable reliability in both L and IL COPD subjects.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Comparing the psychometric properties of checklists and global rating scales for assessing performance on an OSCE-format examination.

PURPOSE: To compare the psychometric properties of checklists, global rating scales preceded by a checklist, and global rating scales alone in assessing surgery residents' performances on an OSCE-like technical skills examination. METHOD: In 1996, 53 general surgery residents with one to six years of postgraduate training participated in a performance-based examination of technical skills consisting of eight 15-minute stations (bench-model simulations of operative procedures in general surgery). Two qualified surgeons marked at each station, one using a task-specific checklist (C) and a subsequent global rating scale (Gc), the other using a global rating scale only (G). RESULTS: Interstation reliabilities measured by Cronbach's alpha were .79 for C, .89 for Gc, and .85 for G. A series of multiple regressions predicting level of training from test scores revealed an R2 of .584 for C alone, which increased to .711 when Gc was entered after (p < .001), and increased to .704 when G was entered after C (p < .001). However, R2 for Gc alone was .711, and for G alone was .704, neither of which changed when C was entered into the prediction (p > .10). The R2 for Gc and G predicting level of training (.725) was not significantly greater than that of either Gc or G alone. A very similar pattern of results was seen when C, Gc, and G were used to predict independent evaluations of the operative outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Global rating scales scored by experts showed higher inter-station reliability, better construct validity, and better concurrent validity than did checklists. Further, the presence of the checklists did not improve the reliability or validity of the global rating scale over that of the global rating scale alone. These results suggest that global rating scales administered by experts are a more appropriate summative measure when assessing candidates on performance-based examinations.

Educational Measurement↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Newly developed short behavior scale for use in stroke outcome research.

This study was designed to examine the scale quality of our newly developed short behavior scale and to identify its role in predicting the functional outcome of stroke patients. The short behavior scale consists of six items that assess cognitive function related to the daily behavioral status of a patient in activities of daily living and exercise. It can be scored quickly through observation of a patient's behavior. We assessed 190 stroke inpatients, who had a mean age of 61 years. The mean days and length of stay from onset were 47.3 and 138.2, respectively. We examined internal consistency with the Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Interrater reliability was tested by having two examiners evaluate 30 patients independently. We studied how the short behavior scale correlated with the admission Functional Independence Measure, Mini-Mental State Examination scores, and speech and visuospatial functions. We also studied how the short behavior scale contributed to the prediction of discharge Functional Independence Measure raw scores with stepwise multiple regression analysis. In another group of 116 patients, we cross-validated our predictive equation. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.88. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.84 for total score. The short behavior scale correlated significantly with cognitive Functional Independence Measure scores and Mini-Mental State Examination scores. We could explain 70.8% of the variance of discharge Functional Independence Measure scores from the Short Behavior Scale, days from onset to admission, age, speech scores, and admission Functional Independence Measure scores. Stability of the predictive equation was shown in cross-validation to a second sample of 116 patients. In conclusion, our newly developed short behavior scale proved reasonable and would be useful to enhance the precision of outcome prediction in stroke rehabilitation.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Comorbidities in stroke patients as assessed with a newly developed comorbidity scale.

We previously reported reliability and validity of our newly developed comorbidity scale (CS) for stroke outcome research based on a retrospective sample. The objectives of this study were to cross-validate the comorbidity scale in a new prospective sample and to investigate longitudinal changes of the comorbidity scale during hospitalization. In a prospective sample of 175 stroke patients admitted to five nonacute rehabilitation hospitals in Japan, we analyzed the frequency and grading of comorbidities and compared the comorbidity scale with demographic data, impairment as assessed with the Stroke Impairment Assessment Set (SIAS), and disability as measured with the Functional Independence Measure (FIM(SM)). The results were compared with our previous retrospective study. We also studied longitudinal changes by measuring the comorbidity scale on admission, 2 wk later, and at discharge of 67 patients. As a result, the comorbidity scaling was significantly lower in the prospective sample, and it increased at the second measurement and then plateaued. Among the comorbidities, hypertension ranked first, followed by shoulder pain, and diabetes mellitus. Similar to our previous retrospective study, the comorbidity scale correlated positively with age and length of stay and correlated negatively with the SIAS motor item scores and the FIM scores. In conclusion, the present study suggested concurrent and predictive validity of the comorbidity scale in a prospective sample as well and clarified the comorbidity characteristics of stroke inpatients.

Activities of Daily Living↗