Intra and inter-raters reliability and agreement of stimulus electrodiagnostic tests with two different electrodes in sedated critically-ill patients

• Published in: Physiotherapy theory and practice Vol. 36; no. 12; pp. 1447 - 1456
• Main Authors: de Araujo, MSc, PT, Amaro Eduardo Tavares, Silva, MSc, PT, Paulo Eugênio, Carvalho, MSc, PT, Karina Livinode de, Fachin-Martins, PhD, PT, Emerson, Babault, PhD, Nicolas, Durigan, PhD, PT, João Luiz Quagliotti
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis Ltd 01.12.2020; Taylor & Francis
• Subjects: Adult; Agreements; Anesthesia, General; Critical Illness; Electrodes; Electrodiagnosis - instrumentation; Electrodiagnosis - methods; Female; Humans; Life Sciences; Male; Middle Aged; Muscle, Skeletal - physiopathology; Muscles; Neurobiology; Neurons and Cognition; Observer Variation; Polyneuropathies - diagnosis; Polyneuropathies - physiopathology; Psychometrics; Reliability; Reproducibility of Results; Stimulus; Agreement; chronaxie; rehabilitation; electrodiagnosis; reliability
• ISSN: 0959-3985; 1532-5040
• DOI: 10.1080/09593985.2019.1567890

The aim of the present study was to verify the intra- and inter-rater reliability and agreement of the stimulus electrodiagnostic test (SET) measurements obtained by pen and square electrodes in the vastus lateralis and tibialis anterior muscles. An intra- and inter-rater reliability and agreement study was performed for the SET by two independent raters. Two different sizes of cathode electrodes (1 cm and 25 cm ) and two muscles were assessed (tibialis anterior and vastus lateralis). Chronaxie did not change according to the different electrodes. A high intra-rater reliability (0.72 ≤  ≤ 0.88) was detected independently of the electrode and muscle assessed. Moreover, moderate and almost perfect agreements (0.51 ≤ Kappa ≤ 1.00) were detected on intra-rater assessment. Similar correlations (0.74 ≤  ≤ 0.79) were found for intra-rater reliability. However, dissimilar inter-rater agreement was detected: Kappa ≤ 0.40 for tibialis anterior and Kappa = 1.00 for vastus lateralis. The SET presented high reliability and moderate agreement in intra-rater evaluations. A fair agreement was found in the inter-rater assessment of the tibialis anterior. Evaluations performed with different electrode sizes did not influence the results. Therefore, the SET should be performed by a unique rater in test retest situations.