C H Goldsmith1, H A Smythe, A Helewa. 1. Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To describe, illustrate, provide statistical rationale and give clinical examples of the concept of a pooled index. METHODS: No explicit design. Randomized control trials of patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis from Rheumatic disease clinics, tertiary care hospitals and communities are used as examples to illustrate the pooled index technique. Interventions in rheumatic disease unit inpatient and outpatient care, occupational therapy and physiotherapy provided by Arthritis Society Therapists in the community were compared. Variables included active joint count, morning stiffness in min, mean of right and left grip strength in mm Hg, erythrocyte sedimentation rate in mm/h, a functional change score, and a pooled index. RESULTS: The pooled index in each study detected a clinically important effect while individual measures were generally not able to declare the effect statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The pooled index is a more powerful clinical outcome than any individual measure provided it is computed from at least 2 relevant clinical outcome measures that have low correlation with each other.
OBJECTIVE: To describe, illustrate, provide statistical rationale and give clinical examples of the concept of a pooled index. METHODS: No explicit design. Randomized control trials of patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis from Rheumatic disease clinics, tertiary care hospitals and communities are used as examples to illustrate the pooled index technique. Interventions in rheumatic disease unit inpatient and outpatient care, occupational therapy and physiotherapy provided by Arthritis Society Therapists in the community were compared. Variables included active joint count, morning stiffness in min, mean of right and left grip strength in mm Hg, erythrocyte sedimentation rate in mm/h, a functional change score, and a pooled index. RESULTS: The pooled index in each study detected a clinically important effect while individual measures were generally not able to declare the effect statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The pooled index is a more powerful clinical outcome than any individual measure provided it is computed from at least 2 relevant clinical outcome measures that have low correlation with each other.
Authors: M J van der Veen; H J Dinant; C van Booma-Frankfort; G A van Albada-Kuipers; J W Bijlsma Journal: Ann Rheum Dis Date: 1996-04 Impact factor: 19.103
Authors: Josef S Smolen; Daniel Aletaha; Johannes W J Bijlsma; Ferdinand C Breedveld; Dimitrios Boumpas; Gerd Burmester; Bernard Combe; Maurizio Cutolo; Maarten de Wit; Maxime Dougados; Paul Emery; Alan Gibofsky; Juan Jesus Gomez-Reino; Boulos Haraoui; Joachim Kalden; Edward C Keystone; Tore K Kvien; Iain McInnes; Emilio Martin-Mola; Carlomaurizio Montecucco; Monika Schoels; Désirée van der Heijde; Desirée van der Heijde Journal: Ann Rheum Dis Date: 2010-03-09 Impact factor: 19.103