Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31256021›Full record

Trial reportBMJ open2019

Thresholds for clinically important deterioration versus improvement in COPD health status: results from a randomised controlled trial in pulmonary rehabilitation and an observational study during routine clinical practice.

Harma Johanna Alma, Corina de Jong, Danijel Jelusic, Michael Wittmann, Michael Schuler, Robbert Sanderman, Konrad Schultz, Janwillem Kocks, Thys van der Molen

Abstract readObservational StudyRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in BMJ open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed, 2 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

8 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Trial
  4. Trial
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. 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

9 authors.

Harma Johanna AlmaDepartment of General Practice and Elderly Care Medicine, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Corina de JongDepartment of General Practice and Elderly Care Medicine, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Danijel JelusicCenter for Rehabilitation, Pulmonology and Orthopedics, Klinik Bad Reichenhall, Bad Reichenhall, Germany.
Michael WittmannCenter for Rehabilitation, Pulmonology and Orthopedics, Klinik Bad Reichenhall, Bad Reichenhall, Germany.
Michael SchulerInstitute for Clinical Epidemiology and Biometry (ICE-B), Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, Bayern, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-6502-9232
Robbert SandermanDepartment of Health Psychology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Konrad SchultzCenter for Rehabilitation, Pulmonology and Orthopedics, Klinik Bad Reichenhall, Bad Reichenhall, Germany.
Janwillem KocksDepartment of General Practice and Elderly Care Medicine, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Thys van der MolenDepartment of General Practice and Elderly Care Medicine, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesChronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a progressive disease. Preventing deterioration of health status is therefore an important therapy goal. (Minimal) Clinically Important Differences ((M)CIDs) are used to interpret changes observed. It remains unclear whether (M)CIDs are similar for both deterioration and improvement in health status. This study investigates and compares these clinical thresholds for three widely-used questionnaires. DESIGN AND

settingData were retrospectively analysed from an inhouse 3-week pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) randomised controlled trial in the German Klinik Bad Reichenhall (study 1), and observational research in Dutch primary and secondary routine clinical practice (RCP) (study 2).

participantsPatients with COPD aged ≥18 years (study 1) and aged ≥40 years (study 2) without respiratory comorbidities were included for analysis. PRIMARY OUTCOMES: The COPD Assessment Test (CAT), Clinical COPD Questionnaire (CCQ) and St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) were completed at baseline and at 3, 6 and 12 months. A Global Rating of Change scale was added at follow-up. Anchor-based and distribution-based methods were used to determine clinically relevant thresholds.

resultsIn total, 451 patients were included from PR and 207 from RCP. MCIDs for deterioration ranged from 1.30 to 4.21 (CAT), from 0.19 to 0.66 (CCQ), and from 2.75 to 7.53 (SGRQ). MCIDs for improvement ranged from -3.78 to -1.53 (CAT), from -0.50 to -0.19 (CCQ), and from -9.20 to -2.76 (SGRQ). Thresholds for moderate improvement versus deterioration ranged from -5.02 to -3.29 vs 3.89 to 8.14 (CAT), from -0.90 to -0.72 vs 0.42 to 1.23 (CCQ), and from -15.85 to -13.63 vs 7.46 to 9.30 (SGRQ).

conclusionsMCID ranges for improvement and deterioration on the CAT, CCQ and SGRQ were somewhat similar. However, estimates for moderate and large change varied and were inconsistent. Thresholds differed between study settings. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: Routine Inspiratory Muscle Training within COPD Rehabilitation trial: #DRKS00004609; MCID study: #UMCG201500447.

Indexed as

Clinical DeteriorationHealth StatusQuality of LifeAgedFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedMinimal Clinically Important DifferencePulmonary Disease, Chronic ObstructiveRetrospective StudiesSurveys and QuestionnairesTime Factorschronic obstructive pulmonary diseasehealth-related quality of lifehealth status responsivenessminimal clinically important differencepulmonary rehabilitationroutine clinical practice

Identifiers

PMID31256021
PMCPMC6609082

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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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.