BACKGROUND: The goal of this study was to determine how to translate visual analogue scale (VAS) symptom scores to the binary, descriptive symptom scales used in the European Position Paper on Rhinosinusitis and Nasal Polyps (EPOS) criteria for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) disease control.
METHODS: 309 CRS patients were recruited. All patients rated their burden of 5 symptoms (nasal blockage, rhinorrhea/postnasal drip, facial pain/pressure, smell loss, sleep disturbance or fatigue) using the binary EPOS descriptive symptom scales and a VAS (on a scale of 0 to 10). In addition, participants completed a 22-item Sinonasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22) and rated their overall CRS disease control as \"controlled\", \"partly controlled\" or \"uncontrolled\" Results: Symptom burdens measured by VAS, binary descriptive EPOS scale and SNOT-22 were associated with worsening CRS disease control reported by participants. Each symptom had a distinct VAS score cut-off that strongly predicted the uncontrolled option on the corresponding binary descriptive EPOS symptom scale. However, the predictive ability of VAS for rhinorrhea/ postnasal drip was disparately worse than the other 4 symptoms. When considering all symptom data simultaneously, a VAS score higher than 3.5 strongly predicted the uncontrolled option on the corresponding binary descriptive EPOS symptom scale for all 5 symptoms.
CONCLUSIONS: A VAS symptom score of higher than 3.5 translates to the uncontrolled option in the binary, descriptive symptom scale of the EPOS control criteria. The rhinorrhea/postnasal drip descriptive symptom scale translates disparately worse to VAS scores and may be considered for revision in future criteria.

UNASSIGNED: Visual analogue scales are widely used to measure subjective responses. Norris\' 16 visual analogue scales (N_VAS) measure subjective feelings of alertness and mood. Up to now, different scientists have clustered items of N_VAS into different ways and Bond and Lader\'s way has been the most frequently used in clinical research. However, there are concerns about the stability of this clustering over different subject samples and different drug classes. The aim of this study was to test whether Bond and Lader\'s clustering was stable in terms of subject samples and drug effects. Alternative clustering of N_VAS was tested.Data from studies with 3 types of drugs: cannabinoid receptor agonist (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol [THC]), muscarinic antagonist (scopolamine), and benzodiazepines (midazolam and lorazepam), collected between 2005 and 2012, were used for this analysis. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to test the clustering algorithm of Bond and Lader. Consensus clustering was performed to test the stability of clustering results over samples and over different drug types. Stability analysis was performed using a three-cluster assumption, and then on other alternative assumptions.Heat maps of the consensus matrix (CM) and density plots showed instability of the three-cluster hypothesis and suggested instability over the 3 drug classes. Two- and four-cluster hypothesis were also tested. Heat maps of the CM and density plots suggested that the two-cluster assumption was superior.In summary, the two-cluster assumption leads to a provably stable outcome over samples and the 3 drug types based on the data used.

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the usefulness of the standardized nasal provocation test (NPT) protocol recently published by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) and compared the utility of several parameters for diagnosing allergic rhinitis (AR) caused by house dust mites (HDM). Subjective parameters were nasal and ocular symptoms measured using a visual analog scale (VAS), and objective parameters were peak nasal inspiratory flow (PNIF), minimal cross-sectional area (MCA), and total nasal volume (TNV).
METHODS: Before and after spraying Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (DP) allergen (1,000 AU/mL, 100 μL) into both nostrils of 13 patients with AR (AR group) and 22 patients with non-AR (NAR group), we used VAS scores to measure nasal symptoms (nasal obstruction, rhinorrhea, sneezing, and itching) and ocular symptoms and assessed PNIF, MCA, and TNV.
RESULTS: The AR group had significantly worse symptoms than the NAR group 15 minutes after DP challenge (P<0.001). After 30 minutes, nasal obstruction and rhinorrhea remained worse in the AR group (P<0.001); a similar but less marked difference was seen for sneezing (P=0.012) and itching (P=0.039). Ocular symptoms, PNIF, MCA, and TNV differed between groups after both 15 and 30 minutes (P<0.05). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was higher for nasal obstruction (0.977), rhinorrhea (0.906), and TNV (0.979) than for sneezing (0.755), itching (0.673), and MCA (0.836).
CONCLUSIONS: NPT performed according to the EAACI guidelines could help diagnose AR caused by HDM. TNV and VAS changes in nasal obstruction and rhinorrhea had higher diagnostic accuracy than other parameters.

Energy intake and food ingesta are central in nutritional screening and assessment. Cancer patients are at nutritional risk of losing weight, and clinicians need quick and easy tools to identify patients for nutritional support. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and the accuracy of a Visual/Verbal Analogue Scale of food ingesta (ingesta-VVAS) to assess energy food intake and nutritional risk in medical oncology patients.
Dieticians administered prospectively the ingesta-VVAS in 1762 medical oncology patients. The external validity of the ingesta-VVAS was determined against daily energy intake based on a 24-h dietary recall. Patients had to estimate how they currently ate on a scale from 0 \"nothing at all\" to 10 \"as usual\". Area Under the Receiver-Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve served as determine the optimal cut-off and provide the discriminative power of the tool to detect patients who ingested less or more than 25 kcal kg-1 day-1.
The feasibility of the ingesta-VVAS was 97.7%. The scores were significantly correlated with energy intake (ρ = .67, p < .05), whatever the specific situation (i.e. malnutrition or not). With a cut-off of ≤7, the ingesta-VVAS exhibited a good power discrimination (AUC = .804) to detect patients who ingested less or more than 25 kcal kg-1 day-1, with a sensitivity of 80.8%, a positive predictive value of 83.6%, a specificity of 67.5%, and a negative predictive value of 63.3%. Patients with a score ≤7 on the ingesta-VVAS score were at 12-fold higher probability of nutritional risk [OR 12.3; 95% CI (8.7-17.4); p < .001]. Sensitivity to detect patients with a significant weight loss was 71%, and a positive predictive value of 75.9%.
This easy-to-use ingesta-VVAS is well-correlated with energy intake and may be useful in clinical practice. An ingesta-VVAS score is ≤ 7 could be used to detect patients with nutritional risk of weight loss in medical oncology.

We assessed the effect of four-corner intercarpal fusion with locking plate without bone graft on daily activities and pain in patients with stage II and III scapholunate advanced collapse and scaphoid nonunion. Twenty-one patients who underwent four-corner fusion with scaphoidectomy without bone graft were evaluated with the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (QuickDASH) and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) pain scores before and 16 months after surgery. We also compared postoperative grip strength between the operated and the healthy side. A principal component analysis was used to establish the relationship between functional benefit, immobilization period and number of physiotherapy sessions. We compared our results with published data. VAS and QuickDASH scores improved significantly. Loss of strength was observed postoperatively. QuickDASH score improved the most with a short immobilization period. No significant difference was found relative to the literature for follow-up time, range of motion, grip strength and QuickDASH score. All patients had bone fusion after 1 year. Four-corner fusion with locking plate is a procedure that reduces pain and improves functional scores. Our results are equal to those reported in the literature with bone graft. The union rate seemed high despite the absence of bone graft but was only assessed by x rays. This study allowed us to establish a treatment guideline: a shorter immobilization leads to better recovery.

The manuscript presents the International Guidelines developed by the Working Group on Personal Injury and Damage under the patronage of the International Academy of Legal Medicine (IALM) regarding the Methods of Ascertainment of any suspected Whiplash-Associated Disorders (WAD).The document includes a detailed description of the logical and methodological steps of the ascertainment process as well as a synoptic diagram in the form of Flow Chart.

BACKGROUND: Since the publication of the 2006 American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) cough guidelines, a variety of tools has been developed or further refined for assessing cough. The purpose of the present committee was to evaluate instruments used by investigators performing clinical research on chronic cough. The specific aims were to (1) assess the performance of tools designed to measure cough frequency, severity, and impact in adults, adolescents, and children with chronic cough and (2) make recommendations or suggestions related to these findings.
METHODS: By following the CHEST methodologic guidelines, the CHEST Expert Cough Panel based its recommendations and suggestions on a recently published comparative effectiveness review commissioned by the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a corresponding summary published in CHEST, and an updated systematic review through November 2013. Recommendations or suggestions based on these data were discussed, graded, and voted on during a meeting of the Expert Cough Panel.
RESULTS: We recommend for adults, adolescents (≥ 14 years of age), and children complaining of chronic cough that validated and reliable health-related quality-of-life (QoL) questionnaires be used as the measurement of choice to assess the impact of cough, such as the Leicester Cough Questionnaire and the Cough-Specific Quality-of-Life Questionnaire in adult and adolescent patients and the Parent Cough-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire in children. We recommend acoustic cough counting to assess cough frequency but not cough severity. Limited data exist regarding the performance of visual analog scales, numeric rating scales, and tussigenic challenges.
CONCLUSIONS: Validated and reliable cough-specific health-related QoL questionnaires are recommended as the measurement of choice to assess the impact of cough on patients. How they compare is yet to be determined. When used, the reporting of cough severity by visual analog or numeric rating scales should be standardized. Previously validated QoL questionnaires or other cough assessments should not be modified unless the new version has been shown to be reliable and valid. Finally, in research settings, tussigenic challenges play a role in understanding mechanisms of cough.

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OBJECTIVE: Allergic rhinitis (AR) is common in asthmatic patients and may impair asthma control. However, this comorbidity is frequently missed. A simple test is needed to enable physicians to diagnose and evaluate the severity of both diseases. The Self Assessment of Allergic Rhinitis and Asthma (SACRA) questionnaire, which GINA and ARIA Japan committees developed in 2011, consist of questionnaires based on GINA and ARIA guidelines for the diagnosis and severity of AR and asthma, and a visual analogue scale (VAS) to evaluate the severity of both diseases. Our objective was to investigate the clinical usefulness of SACRA as a patient-based screening tool for identifying asthmatic patients with AR.
METHODS: SACRA, ACT (Asthma Control Test) and serum IgE RAST were performed in asthmatic patients. The correlation between SACRA and other parameters were analyzed.
RESULTS: Four hundred twenty asthmatic patients were enrolled. Among 168 subjects who self-reported no concomitant AR, 76 asthmatics scored one or more symptoms on SACRA. Eventually, 32 of these 76 subjects were diagnosed with AR by physicians based on laboratory data or physical examinations by ear, nose and throat specialists. The sensitivity and specificity of SACRA for the diagnosis of AR were 92% and 66%, respectively. The estimated prevalence of AR among asthmatics was 66%, almost identical to that of the previous nationwide study in Japan. The level of asthma control assessed by the VAS on SACRA and the ACT score showed a strong correlation (r = -0.700, P < 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: SACRA may be a clinically useful tool for identifying bronchial asthma patients with AR.