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Testing Differences (testing + difference)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	100%

Selected Abstracts

Distress and coping in cancer patients: feasibility of the Icelandic version of BSI 18 and the WOC-CA questionnaires

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CANCER CARE, Issue 1 2006
E. HJÖRLEIFSDÓTTIR rnt, doctoral student
The aim of this study was to test the feasibility of two instruments within an Icelandic context, the Brief Symptom Inventory 18 (BSI 18) and the Ways of Coping Inventory , Cancer Version (WOC-CA) with specific focus on gender and type of treatment and coping techniques among cancer patients during time of treatment. The sample consisted of 40 cancer patients in three oncology outpatient clinics in Iceland, 53% were women and 47% men. The majority of the participants belonged to the age group 51,70. Cronbach alpha, means, confidence intervals and standard deviations were used for analysis as well as Mann,Whitney U -test for testing differences between genders in relation to psychological distress and coping. Anxiety was the factor causing the greatest distress, mainly reported by patients receiving chemotherapy. More women experienced depression than men, women (18.4%), men (8.3%). Distancing was the most frequently reported coping strategy, and men seemed to focus on the positive side more often than women did (P < 0.01). Although the results should be approached with caution, as the sample size was small, they do provide support for the strength of the measurements. Also the findings indicate that gender differences should be taken into account. [source]

Power of Tests for a Dichotomous Independent Variable Measured with Error

HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 3 2008
Daniel F. McCaffrey
Objective. To examine the implications for statistical power of using predicted probabilities for a dichotomous independent variable, rather than the actual variable. Data Sources/Study Setting. An application uses 271,479 observations from the 2000 to 2002 CAHPS Medicare Fee-for-Service surveys. Study Design and Data. A methodological study with simulation results and a substantive application to previously collected data. Principle Findings. Researchers often must employ key dichotomous predictors that are unobserved but for which predictions exist. We consider three approaches to such data: the classification estimator (1); the direct substitution estimator (2); the partial information maximum likelihood estimator (3, PIMLE). The efficiency of (1) (its power relative to testing with the true variable) roughly scales with the square of one less the classification error. The efficiency of (2) roughly scales with the R2 for predicting the unobserved dichotomous variable, and is usually more powerful than (1). Approach (3) is most powerful, but for testing differences in means of 0.2,0.5 standard deviations, (2) is typically more than 95 percent as efficient as (3). Conclusions. The information loss from not observing actual values of dichotomous predictors can be quite large. Direct substitution is easy to implement and interpret and nearly as efficient as the PIMLE. [source]

Evaluating cognition in an elderly cohort via telephone assessment

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY, Issue 5 2010
Effie M. Mitsis
Abstract Objective Longitudinal neuropsychological assessment provides the opportunity to observe the earliest transition to cognitive impairment in healthy, elderly individuals. We examined the feasibility, and its comparability to in-person assessment, of a telephone administered battery of established neuropsychological measures of cognitive functioning in healthy, elderly women. Methods Fifty-four women (age,=,79,±,7.7; education,=,15.4,±,3.3) who were in self-reported good health were recruited from senior centers and other community sources. A two-way cross-over design was used in which participants were randomly assigned to receive either (1) in-person neuropsychological assessment followed by telephone assessment and (2) telephone assessment followed by in-person assessment, separated by approximately 4 weeks. Linear regression models were used to determine whether there were performance differences by method (in-person vs. telephone), and equivalence testing assessed comparability of the two methods. Results There were no statistically significant differences in performance between in-person and telephone assessments on most neuropsychological tests, with the exception of digit span backward, Oral Trail Making Test Part A, and delayed recall on the SRT, the latter likely related to non-comparable exposure (6-trials in-person vs. 3-trials telephone). Equivalence testing differences fell in the pre-specified clinical equivalence zones, providing evidence of comparability of the two methods. Conclusions These pilot data support telephone administration of a neuropsychological battery that yields comparable performance to in-person assessment with respect to most instruments. Significant differences in scores on some measures suggest care should be taken in selecting specific measures used in a neuropsychological battery administered by telephone. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

The Effect of Emergency Department Crowding on Length of Stay and Medication Treatment Times in Discharged Patients With Acute Asthma

ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 8 2010
Jesse M. Pines MD
ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE 2010; 17:834,839 © 2010 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Abstract Objectives:, This study sought to determine if emergency department (ED) crowding was associated with longer ED length of stay (LOS) and time to ordering medications (nebulizers and steroids) in patients treated and discharged with acute asthma and to study how delays in ordering may affect the relationship between ED crowding and ED LOS. Methods:, A retrospective cohort study was performed in adult ED patients aged 18 years and older with a primary International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision (ICD-9), diagnosis of asthma who were treated and discharged from two EDs from January 1, 2007, to January 1, 2009. Four validated measures of ED crowding (ED occupancy, waiting patients, admitted patients, and patient-hours) were assigned at the time of triage. The associations between the level of ED crowding and overall LOS and time to treatment orders were tested by analyzing trends across crowding quartiles, testing differences between the highest and lowest quartiles using Hodges-Lehmann distances, and using relative risk (RR) regression for multivariable analysis. Results:, A total of 1,716 patients were discharged with asthma over the study period (932 at the academic site and 734 at the community site). LOS was longer at the academic site than the community site for asthma patients by 90 minutes (95% confidence interval [CI] = 79 to 101 minutes). All four measures of ED crowding were associated with longer LOS and time to treatment order at both sites (p < 0.001). At the highest level of ED occupancy, patients spent 75 minutes (95% CI = 58 to 93 minutes) longer in the ED compared to the lowest quartile of ED occupancy. In addition, comparing the highest and lowest quartiles of ED occupancy, time to nebulizer order was 6 minutes longer (95% CI = 1 to 13 minutes), and time to steroid order was 16 minutes longer (95% CI = 0 to 38 minutes). In the multivariable analysis, the association between ED crowding and LOS remained significant. Delays in nebulizer and steroid orders explained some, but not all, of the relationship between ED crowding and ED LOS. Conclusions:, Emergency department crowding is associated with longer ED LOS (by more than 1 hour) in patients who ultimately get discharged with asthma flares. Some but not all of longer LOS during crowded times is explained by delays in ordering asthma medications. [source]