BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The purpose of this randomized controlled trial was to examine the usefulness of the addition of specific stabilization exercises to a general back and abdominal muscle exercise approach for patients with subacute or chronic nonspecific back pain by comparing a specific muscle stabilization-enhanced general exercise approach with a general exercise-only approach. SUBJEC...

Ebola survivors (21/27 [77.8%]) suffered more disability than their close contacts (6/54 [11.1%]) (adjusted odds ratio, 23.5 [95% confidence interval, 6.5-85.7]; P < .001) when measured by the Washington Group Disability Extended Questionnaire. Major limitations in vision, mobility, cognition, and affect were observed in survivors 1 year following the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak, highlighting the ...

This study focuses on the development of a profiling system to specify the needs of hearing-aid candidates. As a basis for the profile of compensation needs, we used a slightly modified version of the Amsterdam Inventory of Disability and Handicap, combined with the well-known Client-Oriented Scale of Improvement (COSI). The first questionnaire results in scores for six audiological dimensions:...

A Mokken scaling analysis of the learning disability screening questionnaire (LDSQ) suggested that, with the exception of 1 item, the scale conforms to the properties of a Mokken scale. This has advantages for estimating the severity of intellectual disability and inferring the difficulties likely to be experienced by an individual for whom there is incomplete information on intellectual and ad...

SCORES A disability index was constructed using all questions for each type of disability in the PALS 2001 questionnaire. Points were assigned to each question based on severity, the maximum score being given for someone who is totally disabled in all area. For each type of disability, there are essentially two types of questions: intensity and frequency. Some intensity questions are asked in d...

BACKGROUND The STarT Back Screening Tool (SBST) was developed to stratify low back pain patients according to their risk of future physical disability so that prognostic subgroups can receive matched treatments in primary care. OBJECTIVE To measure the construct and discriminative validity of the SBST-Brazil questionnaire. METHOD A hundred and fifty one patients were recruited to test the c...

BACKGROUND The British Columbia (BC) Ministry of Health collects abortion procedure data in the Medical Services Plan (MSP) physician billings database and in the hospital information Discharge Abstracts Database (DAD). Our study seeks to validate abortion procedure coding in these databases. METHODS Two randomized controlled trials enrolled a cohort of 1031 women undergoing abortion. The res...

BACKGROUND With the development of technology, extensive use of computers in the workplace is prevalent and increases efficiency. However, computer users are facing new harmful working conditions with high workloads and longer hours. This study aimed to investigate the association between computer use at work and self-reported depressive and anxiety disorder (DAD) in a nationally representative...

Accurate, efficient measurement of disease status has become a key issue in MS clinical practice and research. Despite some perceived problems, the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) remains the most widely used comprehensive measure of impairment. There is also a place for more restricted scales of impairment which focus on some aspects of neurological function in more detail than the EDS...

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to compare classification of pressure ulcers from administrative data with a gold standard assessment, specifically; pressure ulcers confirmed by an independent physical assessment performed by trained nurse surveyors. SETTING A retrospective analysis of pooled cross-sectional samples of inpatients assessed across 3 consecutive prevalence surveys in a large academic...