OBJECTIVE To assess the accuracy of outcome data on appendicectomy routinely collected as part of a surgical audit and to investigate outcome in the non-audited period after discharge. DESIGN Retrospective analysis of audit data recorded by the Medical Data Index (MDI) computer system for all patients undergoing emergency appendicectomy in one year; subsequent analysis of their hospital notes...

This study assessed the effects of hearing aids on the perception of tinnitus using the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI). THI benefit scores (unaided-aided) were examined in relation to hearing aid benefit as measured with the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB) inventory. The THI benefit was also related to the users' ratings of overall satisfaction with their hearing aids. Thi...

INTRODUCTION The Pediatric Asthma Health Outcome Measure (PAHOM) was designed to measure quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) in children with asthma. Our objective was to compare parent- and child-reported PAHOM scores to each other, to parent-reported scores on the Juniper Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ), and to physician-rated asthma control. METHODS A convenience sample of primarily Afr...

Frailty is one of the greatest challenges for healthcare professionals. The level of frailty depends on several interrelated factors and can change over time while different interventions seem to be able to influence the level of frailty. Therefore, an outcome instrument to measure frailty with sound clinimetric properties is needed. A systematic review on evaluative measures of frailty was per...

The authors propose that the revenue premium a brand generates compared with that of a private label product is a simple, objective, and managerially useful product-market measure of brand equity. The authors provide the conceptual basis for the measure, compute it for brands in several packaged goods categories, and test its validity. The empirical analysis shows that the measure is reliable a...

A variety of measures are used for evaluating patients’ responses to substance abuse treatments. These range from physical measures (such as samples of urine, breath, hair, or blood), self-reports of drug use (such as the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) or the Time Line Follow-Back), self-reports of psychological or physiological functioning (such as symptom checklists or craving or mood ratings...

OBJECTIVE To determine the concurrent validity of the Balance Outcome Measure for Elder Rehabilitation (BOOMER) with both the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and gait speed. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING Two geriatric rehabilitation units. PARTICIPANTS Elderly adults (N=134) admitted to inpatient rehabilitation. INTERVENTIONS Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The BOOMER consis...

Stroke is a focal neurological syndrome of vascular basis, which may be due to ischemic thrombo-embolism or intra-cerebral haemorrhage. This condition has to be treated on emergency basis as it may cause an irreversible neurological damage. Warfarin has been a widely used oral anti-coagulant in treating ischemic stroke patients. This review highlights the benefits and challenges of warfarin tre...

The primary outcome measure is the outcome that an investigator considers to be the most important among the many outcomes that are to be examined in the study. The primary outcome needs to be defined at the time the study is designed. There are 2 reasons for this: it reduces the risk of false-positive errors resulting from the statistical testing of many outcomes, and it reduces the risk of a ...

BACKGROUND The capacity of the AMS scale as clinical utility and as outcome measure still needs validation. METHODS An open post-marketing study was performed by office-based physicians in Germany in 2004. We analysed data of 1670 androgen-deficient males who were treated with testosterone gel. The AMS scale was applied prior to and after 3 months treatment. RESULTS The improvement of compl...