Mapping Items of Functioning Questionnaires into the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health: Low Back Pain

Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate items of commonly used questionnaires that measure functioning status of persons with stroke and map to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Methods: Eighty-six patients with stroke were recruited from 12 medical institutes for the study. Each item of the Modified Bathel Index (MBI), Stroke Impact Scale (SIS), Mini Mental Status Evaluation (MMSE) and SF-36 were examined and compared its concept with the ICF. Concept linking was performed by 10 health professionals independently. A field test was performed to assess its correlation between those of scales and their linked ICF category sets. Results: It was found that 11 items in MBI was linked to 14 ICF categories, whereas 27 items of MMSE had 10 categories of ICF linked. 60 items of SIS were to be linked with 35 ICF categories. Agreement between professionals in linking was found to be high: 97.5% for MBI items, 78.0%, 78.0%, and 74.8% for MMSE, SIS, and SF-36 respectively. Strong relationship was observed between measurement scales and linked ICF code sets (r=-0.76 for SIS, r=-0.78 for MBI, r=-0.47 for MMSE) whereas there was no relationship was found between SF-36 and its ICF code set (r=-0.06) from the field test. Conclusion: It was found that items of SIS, MMSE and MBI may be linked to ICF categories. Those of linking concept between clinical tools and the ICF could be helpful for clinical data standardization.