Biomaterial Database

Inter and intra-rater reliability of the scoliometer. 2010

Guilherme H Bonagamba, and Daniel M Coelho, and Anamaria S de Oliveira

Course Physical Therapy, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brasil.

BACKGROUND the scoliometer was developed to analyze the axial rotation of the trunk in patients with idiopathic scoliosis. However, there is controversy regarding the reliability of the measures obtained with this device. OBJECTIVE to test the intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of the scoliometer in patients with scoliosis. METHODS 24 volunteers of both sex with idiopathic scoliosis diagnostic (18 ± 4 years-old) and curvatures with mean and standard deviation of 24.8 ± 12.7º Cobb. The measurement procedure was accomplished in one day by two trained examiners. The palpation and determination of each spinal level was accomplished by just one examiner. Each examiner obtained one measure with the device for each vertebra from the thoracic and lumbar levels in each evaluation. For statistical analysis the measurements were divided by spinal levels into upper thorax, medium thorax, lower thorax and lumbar segments. The Intraclass Correlation Coefficient type 1,1 (ICC1,1) was used to determine the intra-rater reliability while the ICC3,1 was used to determine the inter-rater reliability. RESULTS the observed intra-rater reliability values for the medium and lower thorax and lumbar segments of the subjects ranged from very good to excellent. The inter-rater reliability of the measures of axial trunk rotations was considered good to the upper thorax and excellent for the medium and lower thorax and lumbar spine. CONCLUSIONS the scoliometer is a device that has intra-rater reliability estimates ranging from very good to excellent. The inter-rater reliability for the upper and low thorax and for the lumbar spine is relatively lower than the intra-rater values for the same spinal segments, even when the errors from palpation and positioning of the instrument were eliminated.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D005260	Female		Females
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000293	Adolescent	A person 13 to 18 years of age.	Adolescence,Youth,Adolescents,Adolescents, Female,Adolescents, Male,Teenagers,Teens,Adolescent, Female,Adolescent, Male,Female Adolescent,Female Adolescents,Male Adolescent,Male Adolescents,Teen,Teenager,Youths
D000886	Anthropometry	The technique that deals with the measurement of the size, weight, and proportions of the human or other primate body.
D012600	Scoliosis	An appreciable lateral deviation in the normally straight vertical line of the spine. (Dorland, 27th ed)	Scolioses
D015203	Reproducibility of Results	The statistical reproducibility of measurements (often in a clinical context), including the testing of instrumentation or techniques to obtain reproducible results. The concept includes reproducibility of physiological measurements, which may be used to develop rules to assess probability or prognosis, or response to a stimulus; reproducibility of occurrence of a condition; and reproducibility of experimental results.	Reliability and Validity,Reliability of Result,Reproducibility Of Result,Reproducibility of Finding,Validity of Result,Validity of Results,Face Validity,Reliability (Epidemiology),Reliability of Results,Reproducibility of Findings,Test-Retest Reliability,Validity (Epidemiology),Finding Reproducibilities,Finding Reproducibility,Of Result, Reproducibility,Of Results, Reproducibility,Reliabilities, Test-Retest,Reliability, Test-Retest,Result Reliabilities,Result Reliability,Result Validities,Result Validity,Result, Reproducibility Of,Results, Reproducibility Of,Test Retest Reliability,Validity and Reliability,Validity, Face
D015588	Observer Variation	The failure by the observer to measure or identify a phenomenon accurately, which results in an error. Sources for this may be due to the observer's missing an abnormality, or to faulty technique resulting in incorrect test measurement, or to misinterpretation of the data. Two varieties are inter-observer variation (the amount observers vary from one another when reporting on the same material) and intra-observer variation (the amount one observer varies between observations when reporting more than once on the same material).	Bias, Observer,Interobserver Variation,Intraobserver Variation,Observer Bias,Inter-Observer Variability,Inter-Observer Variation,Interobserver Variability,Intra-Observer Variability,Intra-Observer Variation,Intraobserver Variability,Inter Observer Variability,Inter Observer Variation,Inter-Observer Variabilities,Inter-Observer Variations,Interobserver Variabilities,Interobserver Variations,Intra Observer Variability,Intra Observer Variation,Intra-Observer Variabilities,Intra-Observer Variations,Intraobserver Variabilities,Intraobserver Variations,Observer Variations,Variabilities, Inter-Observer,Variabilities, Interobserver,Variabilities, Intra-Observer,Variabilities, Intraobserver,Variability, Inter-Observer,Variability, Interobserver,Variability, Intra-Observer,Variability, Intraobserver,Variation, Inter-Observer,Variation, Interobserver,Variation, Intra-Observer,Variation, Intraobserver,Variation, Observer,Variations, Inter-Observer,Variations, Interobserver,Variations, Intra-Observer,Variations, Intraobserver,Variations, Observer