Anchor-based minimal important difference values are often sensitive to the distribution of the change score.
Qual Life Res
; 33(5): 1223-1232, 2024 May.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38319488
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE:
Anchor-based studies are today the most popular approach to determine a minimal important difference value for an outcome variable. However, a variety of construction methods for such values do exist. This constitutes a challenge to the field. In order to distinguish between more or less adequate construction methods, meaningful minimal requirements can be helpful. For example, minimal important difference values should not reflect the intervention(s) the patients are exposed to in the study used for construction, as they should later allow to compare interventions. This requires that they are not sensitive to the distribution of the change score observed. This study aims at investigating to which degree established construction methods fulfil this minimal requirement.METHODS:
Six constructions methods were considered, covering very popular and recently suggested methods. The sensitivity of MID values to the distribution of the change score was investigated in a simulation study for these six construction methods.RESULTS:
Five out of six construction methods turned out to yield MID values which are sensitive to the distribution of the change score to a degree that questions their usefulness. Insensitivity can be obtained by using construction methods based solely on an estimate of the conditional distribution of the anchor variable given the change score.CONCLUSION:
In future the computation of MID values should be based on construction methods avoiding sensitivity to the distribution of the change score.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Bases de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Diferença Mínima Clinicamente Importante
Tipo de estudo:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Qual Life Res
Assunto da revista:
REABILITACAO
/
TERAPEUTICA
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Suíça