Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21732199›Full record

ArticleQuality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation2012

Rating the methodological quality in systematic reviews of studies on measurement properties: a scoring system for the COSMIN checklist.

Caroline B Terwee, Lidwine B Mokkink, Dirk L Knol, Raymond W J G Ostelo, Lex M Bouter, Henrica C W de Vet

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Article in Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 775 papers, 58 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
775citing papers in PubMed, 58 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

775 citing papers in PubMed, 58 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  13. Evaluating the psychometric properties of patient-reported outcome measurements for urolithiasis: a COSMIN-based systematic review.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2025
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  18. Health-related quality of life of informal carers in ALS: a systematic review of person reported outcome measures.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2025
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715 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Caroline B TerweeDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. cb.terwee@vumc.nl
Lidwine B Mokkink
Dirk L Knol
Raymond W J G Ostelo
Lex M Bouter
Henrica C W de Vet

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe COSMIN checklist is a standardized tool for assessing the methodological quality of studies on measurement properties. It contains 9 boxes, each dealing with one measurement property, with 5-18 items per box about design aspects and statistical methods. Our aim was to develop a scoring system for the COSMIN checklist to calculate quality scores per measurement property when using the checklist in systematic reviews of measurement properties.

methodsThe scoring system was developed based on discussions among experts and testing of the scoring system on 46 articles from a systematic review. Four response options were defined for each COSMIN item (excellent, good, fair, and poor). A quality score per measurement property is obtained by taking the lowest rating of any item in a box ("worst score counts").

resultsSpecific criteria for excellent, good, fair, and poor quality for each COSMIN item are described. In defining the criteria, the "worst score counts" algorithm was taken into consideration. This means that only fatal flaws were defined as poor quality. The scores of the 46 articles show how the scoring system can be used to provide an overview of the methodological quality of studies included in a systematic review of measurement properties.

conclusionsBased on experience in testing this scoring system on 46 articles, the COSMIN checklist with the proposed scoring system seems to be a useful tool for assessing the methodological quality of studies included in systematic reviews of measurement properties.

Indexed as

Quality ControlQuality of LifeReview Literature as TopicChecklistHumansPsychometricsReproducibility of ResultsSurveys and Questionnaires

Identifiers

PMID21732199
PMCPMC3323819

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.