Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37534887›Full record

ArticleEuropean journal of physical and rehabilitation medicine2023

The structure of the Early Rehabilitation Barthel Index (ERBI) should be modified: evidence from a Rasch analysis study.

Leonardo Pellicciari, Lucia F Lucca, Antonio DE Tanti, Rita Formisano, Anna Estraneo, Francesca C Cava, Donatella Saviola, Fabio LA Porta

Open access · diamondAbstract readMulticenter Study
In one paragraph

Article in European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
0.2field-weighted citation impact, top 42% of its field
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

0 citing papers in PubMed, 1 citations in OpenAlex.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.

Leonardo PellicciariIRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Lucia F LuccaS. Anna Institute, Crotone, Italy.
Antonio DE TantiCardinal Ferrari Center, KOS Group, Fontanellato, Parma, Italy.
Rita FormisanoIRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy.
Anna EstraneoIRCCS Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi, Florence, Italy.
Francesca C CavaMontecatone Rehabilitation Institute, Montecatone, Bologna, Italy.
Donatella SaviolaCardinal Ferrari Center, KOS Group, Fontanellato, Parma, Italy.
Fabio LA PortaIRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Bologna, Italy - fabiolaporta@mail.com.
Ferrari (Italy) · ITIstituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna · ITDon Carlo Gnocchi Foundation · ITIstituti di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico · ITIstituto S.Anna Crotone · IT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe Early Rehabilitation Barthel Index (ERBI) comprises seven items of the Early Rehabilitation Index and ten items of the Barthel Index. The ERBI is usually used to measure functional changes in patients with severe acquired brain injury (sABI), but its measurement properties have yet to be extensively assessed.

aimTo study the unidimensionality and internal construct validity (ICV) of the ERBI through Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), Mokken Analysis (MA), and Rasch Analysis (RA).

designMulticenter prospective study.

settingInpatients from five intensive rehabilitation centers. POPULATION: Two hundred and forty-seven subjects with sABI.

methodsERBI was administered on admission and discharge to study its unidimensionality through CFA and MA and its ICV, reliability, and targeting through RA.

resultsThe preliminary analyses showed a lack of unidimensionality (RMSEA=0.460 >0.06; SRMR=0.176 >0.06; CFI=1.000 >0.950; TLI=1.000 >0.950). According to CFA, "Confusional state" and "Behavioral disturbance" items showed low factor loadings (<0.40), whereas these two items composed a separate scale within the MA. Furthermore, the baseline RA showed that three items misfitted ("Mechanical ventilation," "Confusional state," "Behavioral disturbances") and a lack of conformity of several ICV requirements. After deletion of three misfitting items and further non-structural modifications (i.e., testlets creation to absorb local dependence between items and item misfit), the solution obtained showed adequate ICV, adequate reliability for measurements at the individual level (PSI>0.85), although with a frank floor effect. This final solution was successfully replicated in a total sample of the subjects. After post-hoc modifications of the score structure of two out of three misfitting items, the subsequent CFA (RMSEA=0.044 <0.06; SRMR=0.056 <0.06; CFI=1.000 >0.950 TLI=1.000 >0.950) and MA showed the resolution of the unidimensional issues.

conclusionsAlthough the ERBI is a potentially valuable tool for measuring functioning in the coma-to-community continuum, our analyses suggested its lack of ICV, partly due to an incorrect scoring design of some items. A new perspective multicenter study is proposed to validate a modified version of the ERBI that overcomes the problems highlighted in this analysis. CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT: Our results do not support the use of the original structure of the ERBI in clinical practice and research, as a lack of ICV was highlighted.

Indexed as

InpatientsRehabilitation CentersHumansPatient DischargeProspective StudiesPsychometricsReproducibility of ResultsSurveys and Questionnaires

Identifiers

PMID37534887
PMCPMC10595071
OpenAlexW4385502309

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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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.