Journal of clinical epidemiology
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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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Our objective was to develop a framework to identify research gaps from systematic reviews. ⋯ Our framework determines from systematic reviews where the current evidence falls short and why or how the evidence falls short. This explicit identification of research gaps will allow systematic reviews to maximally inform the types of questions that need to be addressed and the types of studies needed to address the research gaps.
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In the GRADE approach, randomized trials start as high-quality evidence and observational studies as low-quality evidence, but both can be rated down if a body of evidence is associated with a high risk of publication bias. Even when individual studies included in best-evidence summaries have a low risk of bias, publication bias can result in substantial overestimates of effect. ⋯ The most popular of these is the funnel plot; all, however, have substantial limitations. Publication bias is likely frequent, and caution in the face of early results, particularly with small sample size and number of events, is warranted.
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Multicenter Study
The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health: development of capacity and performance scales.
There has been no attempt to obtain a continuous summary measure of disability from the checklist of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Our objective was to assess whether valid scales of Capacity and Performance could be developed from the "Activities and Participation" domain of the ICF checklist. ⋯ Our findings support the measurement model, reliability, and validity of the Capacity and Performance scales. Summary measures of functioning based on the ICF can be obtained using these scales, which should facilitate their incorporation in clinical and epidemiological studies.
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To describe the characteristics and quality of reporting of cluster randomized trials (CRTs) in children published from 2004 to 2010. ⋯ Children-specific elements of reporting are needed to improve the quality of reporting of CRTs and consequently their planning and implementation.