BACKGROUND The abstraction of data from medical records is a widespread practice in epidemiological research. However, studies using this means of data collection rarely report reliability. Within the Transition after Childhood Cancer Study (TaCC) which is based on a medical record abstraction, we conducted a second independent abstraction of data with the aim to assess a) intra-rater reliabili...

BACKGROUND African pouched rats sniffing sputum samples provided by local clinics have significantly increased tuberculosis case findings in Tanzania and Mozambique. The objective of this study was to determine the reproducibility of rat results. METHODS Over an 18-month period 11,869 samples were examined by the rats. Intra-rater reliability was assessed through Yule's Q. Inter-rater reliabi...

BACKGROUND Infrared thermography is an aid tool that can be used to evaluate several pathologies given its efficiency in analyzing the distribution of skin surface temperature. OBJECTIVES To propose two forms of infrared image analysis of the masticatory and upper trapezius muscles, and to determine the intra and inter-rater reliability of both forms of analysis. METHOD Infrared images of m...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the intra-rater reliability and inter-rater reliability of three different methods using a drawing protractor, a digital protractor after tracing, and a CAD system. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty-four artificial abutments that had been prepared by dental students were used in this study. Three dental students measured the convergence angles by e...

Best practice assessment of childhood ADHD includes behavior ratings from multiple sources across multiple environments. However, adolescents in secondary schools interact with several teachers each day, and research has shown that teacher perceptions of the same child can be highly inconsistent. As a result, rating scale data can be equivocal, depending on which teachers are selected. The inte...

Background Improving access to health and nursing care aims to maintain and promote the quality of life (Qol) of care recipients. Especially in dementia research, Qol is a major outcome. QUALIDEM is an often-used dementiaspecific Qol measure. It consists of two consecutive versions, one for mild to severe and one for very severe dementia. Previous results showed an insufficient interrater relia...

This study investigated the inter-rater and intra-rater reliability of subjective judgements of cough in patients following inhalation of citric acid. Eleven speech-language pathologists (SLPs) currently using cough reflex testing in their clinical practice (experienced raters) and 34 SLPs with no experience using cough reflex testing (inexperienced raters) were recruited to the study. Particip...

BACKGROUND Measurement of maximum inspiratory pressure is the most prevalent method used in clinical practice to assess the strength of the inspiratory muscles. Although there are many devices available for the assessment of inspiratory muscle strength, there is a dearth of literature describing the reliability of devices that can be used in clinical patient assessment. The capsule-sensing pres...