Abstract
BackgroundTo compare data based on touch screen to data based on traditional paper versions of questionnaires frequently used to examine patient reported outcomes in knee osteoarthritis patients and to examine the impact of patient characteristics on this comparisonMethodsParticipants were recruited from an ongoing trial (http://ClinicalTrials.Gov Identifier: NCT00655941). 20 female participants, mean age 67 (SD 7), completed KOOS, VAS pain, function and patient global, SF-36, Physical Activity Scale, painDETECT, and the ADL Taxonomy. Patients were randomly assigned to one of two subgroups, completing either the paper or touch screen version first. Mean, mean differences (95% CI), median, median differences and Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICCs) were calculated for all questionnaires.ResultsICCs between data based on computerized and paper versions ranged from 0.86 to 0.99. Analysis revealed a statistically significant difference between versions of the ADL Taxonomy, but not for the remaining questionnaires. Age, computer experience or education-level had no significant impact on the results. The computerized questionnaires were reported to be easier to use.ConclusionThe computerized questionnaires gave comparable results to answers given on paper. Patient characteristics did not influence results and implementation was feasible.
Highlights
To compare data based on touch screen to data based on traditional paper versions of questionnaires frequently used to examine patient reported outcomes in knee osteoarthritis patients and to examine the impact of patient characteristics on this comparison
Our results revealed that retired elderly female patients do not experience any problems when using computerized questionnaires, which implies that this method is applicable for the majority of patients in the clinical Rheumatology setting
Our results may only be compared to other questionnaires assessing metabolic equivalents (METs), which in one case found similar results in patients with hip and/ or knee osteoarthritis [26]
Summary
To compare data based on touch screen to data based on traditional paper versions of questionnaires frequently used to examine patient reported outcomes in knee osteoarthritis patients and to examine the impact of patient characteristics on this comparison. In the Rheumatology clinic, self-administered Health Status Questionnaires (HSQs) are an important part of the overall evaluation of patients [1,2]. Several questionnaires are applied in the self-assessment process, and data handling can be tedious, expensive and open to errors, when data are being transferred manually from paper into electronic systems. Implementation of computerized methods of data collection based on touch-screen would be more cost-effective and decrease the risk of error. Prior to implementation of data collection based on touch screen, it is crucial to evaluate if questionnaires. Previous studies have examined groups of patients with different diagnoses by a wide variety of computer equipment, but little has been done within the field of knee osteoarthritis (KOA) [1,2,6,7]. As the number of KOA patients are estimated to increase dramatically in the future, there is a huge need for an easy and precise method for retrieval of PROs from this patient category [8,9]
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