Evidence map›Paper›PMID 22763821›Full record

ArticleQuality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation2013

Visual analogue scales: scale recalibration by patients with dementia and their proxies.

Alexander M M Arons, Paul F M Krabbe, Gert Jan van der Wilt, Marcel G M Olde Rikkert, Eddy M M Adang

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–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

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. The Parkinson's disease e-diary: Developing a clinical and research tool for the digital age.Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society · 2019
    Article
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

5 authors.

Alexander M M AronsDepartment of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and HTA, Radboud University Medical Centre, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. s.arons@ebh.umcn.nl
Paul F M Krabbe
Gert Jan van der Wilt
Marcel G M Olde Rikkert
Eddy M M Adang

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundVisual analogue scales (VAS) are often used to measure health-related quality of life (HRQoL). However, when such scales contain ambiguous anchors like "best imaginable health state," they produce answers that are difficult to interpret, as such anchors are interpreted differently by respondents of different age. This phenomenon that people's interpretation of subjective response scales changes in response to changing circumstances is known as scale recalibration. The current study attempts to investigate whether scale recalibration in a patient sample with cognitive limitations and proxies differs from the general population.

methodsThe participants in the current study were 151 pairs of community-dwelling patients with dementia and their proxies. They were administered three VASs with different upper anchors; (A) "best imaginable health state," (B) "best imaginable health state for someone your age," and (C) "best imaginable health state for a 25-year-old." From literature, we inferred a conceptual model for the general population that predicts the ordinal relationship of the VASs to be B ≥ A ≥ C. This rank order is tested by repeated measure ANOVA's in the aforementioned populations.

resultsVAS scores of patients with dementia were in line with the conceptual model. Proxy VAS scores for assessing patient HRQoL were not in line with the model: A > B > C. In addition, proxy VAS scores for assessing their own health were not in line with the model: A > B > C.

conclusionPatients with dementia use the VAS in a similar way to the general population. Proxies assessing either patients or themselves differ from the general population.

Indexed as

Health StatusQuality of LifeSurveys and QuestionnairesVisual Analog ScaleAgedAged, 80 and overCaregiversDementiaFemaleHumansLanguageMaleMiddle AgedPain MeasurementPopulation SurveillanceProxy

Identifiers

PMID22763821
PMCPMC3664750

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.