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Differences in patient and physician assessment of a dynamic patient reported outcome tool for chronic pruritus
Author(s) -
Fritz F.,
Blome C.,
Augustin M.,
Koch R.,
Ständer S.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of the european academy of dermatology and venereology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.655
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1468-3083
pISSN - 0926-9959
DOI - 10.1111/jdv.13214
Subject(s) - medicine , concordance , patient reported outcome , physical therapy , patient assessment , reliability (semiconductor) , quality of life (healthcare) , power (physics) , physics , nursing , quantum mechanics
Abstract Background Chronic pruritus is a subjective symptom, mainly measured through patient reported outcomes. Our aim is to assess two different methods regarding the change of symptoms: a visual dynamic pruritus score ( vDPS ) documented by patients, and a numerical value ( nDPS ) documented by physicians. Methods Inferential statistics and reliability analyses have been performed on data collected in 2013. Results Data of 701 patients were analysed (45.6% males, 54.4% females, mean age 60 ± 16 years). The nDPS showed less extreme and generally lower values than the vDPS . There was a slight concordance between both methods; the highest concordance was seen for no/weak change and very good reduction. Conclusion The difference between patient and physician assessed same score points to an important bias in pruritus assessment which has to be taken into account especially in clinical trials. Though further studies are needed, the patient‐based assessment seems to be less biased by a social desirability effect.