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Reliability of Palpation of Pedal Pulses As Ascertained by the Kappa Statistic
Author(s) -
Lawson Ian R.,
Ingman Stanley R.,
Masih Younus,
Freeman Barbara
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1980.tb00619.x
Subject(s) - palpation , medicine , cohen's kappa , kappa , reliability (semiconductor) , statistic , grading (engineering) , inter rater reliability , statistics , physical therapy , reliability engineering , surgery , mathematics , power (physics) , physics , geometry , civil engineering , rating scale , quantum mechanics , engineering
An improved statistic (weighted Kappa) was tested for reviewing the reliability of the palpation of pedal pulses by three observers. Significant improvement was noted after training. Reliability also persisted with respect to a reduced form of the conventional ordinal grading system. The findings indicated that problems of usefulness or reliability may arise when more than five distinctions are made in describing the pulses or when the data are completely reduced to only a dichotomous (present‐absent) system.