Dataset Information

Clinical Utility of the 6-Item CTS, Boston-CTS, and Hand-Diagram for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

ABSTRACT: Background: Self-reported measures are often used in research and clinical practice to diagnose carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and guide therapeutic choices. We aimed to assess the clinical utility of the Norwegian versions of two self-reported outcome measures for symptom severity assessment, the 6-item CTS (CTS-6), and Boston-CTS (BCTQ), and of one diagnostic measure, the hand-diagram, by evaluating measurement properties including discriminative ability for severity assessment (CTS-6, BCTQ), and diagnosis of CTS (hand-diagram). Methods: We performed forward and backward translation and cultural adaptation of the Norwegian CTS-6 and BCTQ. Following COSMIN guidelines, we investigated internal consistency, reliability, construct validity, and discriminative ability for distinguishing between severity levels of CTS in patients with confirmed CTS for the CTS-6 and BCTQ and reliability and discriminative ability for diagnosing CTS for the hand-diagram. Results: Two hundred and fifty-one patients referred for diagnostic work-up for CTS with nerve conduction studies (NCS) participated. The CTS-6 and BCTQ had acceptable internal consistency (Crohnbach's α = 0.82 and 0.86, respectively), reliability (ICC = 0.86 and 0.90; SEM = 0.24 and 0.20; SDC95% = 0.68 and 0.55, respectively), construct validity (all eight pre-defined hypotheses confirmed) and discriminative ability to distinguish between severity levels of CTS [Area under the curve (AUC) = 0.75, 95% CI 0.64-0.85]. The hand-diagram had acceptable reliability (Cohen's kappa = 0.69) and discriminative ability to diagnose CTS (sensitivity = 0.72, specificity = 0.90). Conclusion: Our findings support the clinical utility of the CTS-6 and BCTQ for symptom severity assessment and of the hand-diagram for diagnostic screening.

SUBMITTER: Schulze DG

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8353366 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundThe Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (BCTQ) and its shorter version, the Six-Item Carpal Tunnel Symptoms Scale (CTS-6), are widely used for assessing function and/or symptoms in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome. This study examined the structural validity of the BCTQ and CTS-6 among patients who had undergone surgery for treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome.MethodsThe data for this cross-sectional analysis were obtained from 217 adult patients who had undergone carpal tunnel release surgery 1 year earlier. All patients completed the CTS-6, Symptom Severity Scale (SSS) and Functional Status Scale (FSS) of the BCTQ at 12 months after surgery. The Rasch Measurement Theory (RMT) was applied to investigate the unidimensionality, residual correlation, differential item functioning, scale coverage/targeting, and person separation of the CTS-6, SSS and FSS of the BCTQ.ResultsThe FSS showed unidimensionality and good scale and item fit. All items showed ordered response category thresholds. Eight of the FSS items displayed differential item functioning favoring age or gender. The multidimensional structure of the CTS-6 was absorbed by creating a testlet for frequency of symptoms or testlets for pain and numbness. The testlets supported unidimensionality in the BCTQ SSS. One item in the CTS-6 and two items in the BCTQ SSS showed differential item functioning favoring age or gender. Four items in the BCTQ SSS and two items in the CTS-6 exhibited disordered response category thresholds. Merging of the relevant response categories led to ordered response category thresholds. The person separation indices were 0.73, 0.86 and 0.77 for the CTS-6, BCTQ SSS and FSS, respectively.ConclusionsBased on the RMT analysis, the CTS-6 has superior psychometric properties compared to the BCTQ SSS in surgically treated patients. The CTS-6 might be more accurate when separated into item sets measuring pain or numbness. The FSS of the BCTQ has acceptable construct validity, although gender differences at some ages were observed in responses.

Project description:The Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (BCTQ) is a scale that has been developed specifically for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). It consists of the Functional Status Scale (FSS) and the Symptom Severity Scale (SSS). It is the most widely used patient reported outcome measure in CTS and has been validated in many languages. Although already widely used, psychometric properties of the Dutch version of the BCTQ are yet unknown. The aim of this study was to assess the validity, reliability, responsiveness, and acceptability of the Dutch version. Moreover, this paper focuses the longitudinal validity (the use after an intervention) of the BCTQ, which has not been investigated before. A total of 180 patients completed the BCTQ in addition to a six-point Likert scale for perceived improvement, before and about 6-8 months after carpal tunnel release (CTR). Principal factor analysis revealed that the FSS is unidimensional, consisting of a single latent factor ("functionality") and has a high internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.825). However, the SSS has three dimensions, which are all highly internally consistent: "daytime symptoms" (Cronbach's α = 0.805), "nighttime symptoms" (Cronbach's α = 0.835), and "operational capacity" (Cronbach's α = 0.723). Post-treatment, the FSS still consisted of one factor, but the SSS changed in dimensionality, as it had only two factors left post-treatment. The ΔFSS and ΔSSS had good correlation with the six-point Likert scale for perceived improvement (r = 0.524; p < 0.01 and r = 0.574; p < 0.01, respectively), a moderate correlation between FSS and pinch grip (r = 0.259; p < 0.01) was found, and a weak correlation between SSS and pinch grip (r = 0.231; p < 0.01) was found. Standard Response Mean for FSS and SSS was 0.76 and 1.49, respectively. Effect size was 0.92 and 1.96, respectively, both indicating a good responsiveness. Response rate was high (82-84%). We concluded that the Dutch version of the BCTQ has a proper reliability, validity, responsiveness, and acceptability to assess the symptom severity and functional disabilities of CTS patients. Because of multidimensionality, we would recommend to create sum scores of the four different dimensions instead of two. Caution is required when interpreting the results postoperatively, due to the insufficient longitudinal validity of the SSS.

Dataset Information

Clinical Utility of the 6-Item CTS, Boston-CTS, and Hand-Diagram for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets