Selection and Reporting of Statistical Methods to Assess Reliability of a Diagnostic Test: Conformity to Recommended Methods in a Peer-Reviewed Journal

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the frequency and adequacy of statistical analyses in a general radiology journal when reporting a reliability analysis for a diagnostic test. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-three studies of diagnostic test accuracy (DTA) and 36 studies reporting reliability analyses published in the Korean Journal of Radiology between 2012 and 2016 were analyzed. Studies were judged using the methodological guidelines of the Radiological Society of North America-Quantitative Imaging Biomarkers Alliance (RSNA-QIBA), and COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) initiative. DTA studies were evaluated by nine editorial board members of the journal. Reliability studies were evaluated by study reviewers experienced with reliability analysis. RESULTS: Thirty-one (49.2%) of the 63 DTA studies did not include a reliability analysis when deemed necessary. Among the 36 reliability studies, proper statistical methods were used in all (5/5) studies dealing with dichotomous/nominal data, 46.7% (7/15) of studies dealing with ordinal data, and 95.2% (20/21) of studies dealing with continuous data. Statistical methods were described in sufficient detail regarding weighted kappa in 28.6% (2/7) of studies and regarding the model and assumptions of intraclass correlation coefficient in 35.3% (6/17) and 29.4% (5/17) of studies, respectively. Reliability parameters were used as if they were agreement parameters in 23.1% (3/13) of studies. Reproducibility and repeatability were used incorrectly in 20% (3/15) of studies. CONCLUSION: Greater attention to the importance of reporting reliability, thorough description of the related statistical methods, efforts not to neglect agreement parameters, and better use of relevant terminology is necessary.

Software Program Reconstructions of Automatic Medicine Packing Machine in Our Hospital / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE:To promote the working performace of automatic medicine packing machine in our hospital. METH-ODS:Combined with the problems we met in the use of the automatic medicine packing machine,the reconstructions of software functions,such as drug inventory management,drug identification,specific drug sub-package and document printing of non-pack-age drug,were introduced. Related indicators were compared before and after reconstruction. RESULTS:After the software recon-struction,compared with 2012,loss events of expire drug due to poor sales fell by 70% in 2013;drug dispensing errors related to medicine packing machine dropped by 1/2;the time of drug checking shortened by 1/5. CONCLUSIONS:The software program re-construction of automatic medicine packing machine can improve the work efficiency of pharmacy and the accuracy of drug dispens-ing,further guarantee the quality and safety of drugs,and meet the practical demand of our hospital.

Introduction of Relative Survival Analysis Program: Using Sample of Cancer Registry Data with Stata Software / 한국역학회지

Patient survival is one of the most important measures for the evaluation of progress in cancer patient care across the wide spectrum from diagnosis to treatment. The optimal monitoring method for cancer patient survival is to estimate survival based on representative data from cancer patients in the population, which is only achievable through using population-based cancer registration data. Relative survival is used to compare the survival experience in a study cohort that expected to result from background population mortality rates. This technique is useful when the cause of death is not accurate or not available, since it provides a measure of excess mortality in a group of patients with a certain disease. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the procedures for estimating relative survival using the statistical software Stata. For this survival analysis to show the procedure, the example data set was randomly selected from the National Cancer Incidence Database, which was used in a recent article reporting the overall relative survival of cancer patients diagnosed during 1993-2002 in Korea.

Software for Nutritional Assessment Using a Semi-Quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire and the 24-hour Recall Method / 대한지역사회영양학회지

The purpose of this study was to develop a computer software program for nutritional assessment using a Semi-Quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire (SQFFQs) and the 24-hour Recall Method. The software for the SQFFQ was divided into input, output, and database. For dietary analyses, recipe and food databases were used. The recipe database included 25 items and the food database was divided into 18 food groups. The food database was composed of 19 general nutrient items, 33 fatty acids, and 18 amino acids. The software developed in this study can be summarized as follows: 1) input items related to the individual's ages information, lifestyle, biological values, and dietary habits; 2) individualized data in percent of the Korean RDA, the energy ratios of carbohydrates, proteins and fats, the ratio of animal to plant source intakes, and the distribution of food group intakes; 3) Statistical data on the individual's information, lifestyle, biological values, and dietary intakes including the frequency of intake of cooked foods, the amounts of food, and the number of food groups, and nutrients. In the 24-hour Recall Method, the input and output consisted of the individual's information and cooked dish intakes. The individual's report included the amounts of nutrient intake according to number of meal and days, in comparison to the Korean RDA, the energy ratio for carbohydrates, proteins and fats, the ratio of animal to plant source intakes, and the distribution of food group intakes. The statistical report presented the number of food groups and foods, and the nutrient intakes. To evaluate the validity of the SQFFQ, the Spearman Rank Order Correlation and kappa values were used. As a result, correlation coefficients comparing the 24-hour Recall Method appeared to be more than 0.5, except for vitamin B1, B2, niacin, and vitamin E. The kappa values for energy and carbohydrate intakes were both 0.7, and protein, fat, vitamin C, folate, Ca, and iron intakes ranged from 0.3 to 0.7.