Rasch-built Overall Disability Scale for patients with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN-R-ODS)

• Published in: European journal of cancer (1990) Vol. 49; no. 13; pp. 2910 - 2918
• Main Authors: Binda, D., Vanhoutte, E.K., Cavaletti, G., Cornblath, D.R., Postma, T.J., Frigeni, B., Alberti, P., Bruna, J., Velasco, R., Argyriou, A.A., Kalofonos, H.P., Psimaras, D., Ricard, D., Pace, A., Galiè, E., Briani, C., Dalla Torre, C., Lalisang, R.I., Boogerd, W., Brandsma, D., Koeppen, S., Hense, J., Storey, D., Kerrigan, S., Schenone, A., Fabbri, S., Rossi, E., Valsecchi, M.G., Faber, C.G., Merkies, I.S.J., Galimberti, S., Lanzani, F., Mattavelli, L., Piatti, M.L., Bidoli, P., Cazzaniga, M., Cortinovis, D., Lucchetta, M., Campagnolo, M., Bakkers, M., Brouwer, B., Grant, R., Reni, L., Piras, B., Pessino, A., Padua, L., Granata, G., Leandri, M., Ghignotti, I., Plasmati, R., Pastorelli, F., Heimans, J.J., Eurelings, M., Meijer, R.J., Grisold, W., Lindeck Pozza, E., Mazzeo, A., Toscano, A., Russo, M., Tomasello, C., Altavilla, G., Penas Prado, M., Dominguez Gonzalez, C., Dorsey, S.G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Activities of Daily Living; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Antineoplastic Agents - adverse effects; Biological and medical sciences; Chemotherapy; Chi-Square Distribution; Consensus; Disability Evaluation; Europe; Female; Hematology, Oncology and Palliative Medicine; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Pain Measurement; Patient questionnaire; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases - chemically induced; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases - diagnosis; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases - physiopathology; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases - psychology; Peripheral neuropathy; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Predictive Value of Tests; Quality of Life; Reproducibility of Results; Severity of Illness Index; Surveys and Questionnaires; Tumors; Europe; Patient questionnaire; Chemotherapy; Peripheral neuropathy; Disability evaluation; Human; Disability; Nervous system diseases; Treatment; Cancerology; Questionnaire; Peripheral nerve disease
• ISSN: 0959-8049; 1879-0852; 1879-0852
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejca.2013.04.004

Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a common neurological side-effect of cancer treatment and may lead to declines in patients’ daily functioning and quality of life. To date, there are no modern clinimetrically well-evaluated outcome measures available to assess disability in CIPN patients. The objective of the study was to develop an interval-weighted scale to capture activity limitations and participation restrictions in CIPN patients using the Rasch methodology and to determine its validity and reliability properties. A preliminary Rasch-built Overall Disability Scale (pre-R-ODS) comprising 146 items was assessed twice (interval: 2–3weeks; test–retest reliability) in 281 CIPN patients with a stable clinical condition. The obtained data were subjected to Rasch analyses to determine whether model expectations would be met, and if necessarily, adaptations were made to obtain proper model fit (internal validity). External validity was obtained by correlating the CIPN-R-ODS with the National Cancer Institute-Common Toxicity Criteria (NCI-CTC) neuropathy scales and the Pain-Intensity Numeric-Rating-Scale (PI-NRS). The preliminary R-ODS did not meet Rasch model’s expectations. Items displaying misfit statistics, disordered thresholds, item bias or local dependency were systematically removed. The final CIPN-R-ODS consisting of 28 items fulfilled all the model’s expectations with proper validity and reliability, and was unidimensional. The final CIPN-R-ODS is a Rasch-built disease-specific, interval measure suitable to detect disability in CIPN patients and bypasses the shortcomings of classical test theory ordinal-based measures. Its use is recommended in future clinical trials in CIPN.