Lyn March|J. M. Schwarz|Barbara Carfrae|E Bagge
Clinical validation of self-reported osteoarthritis
Royal North Shore Hospital
evaluate use postal survey detect subjects community osteoarthritis oa ability metrologists detect clinical oaquestionnaires posted random sample residents northern sydney health area aged 4564 years old asking details musculoskeletal complaints diagnoses questionnaire definition oa made osteoarthritis reported degenerative arthritis joints wearing together pain joints previous 6 months hands hips knees 106 subjects examined one two trained metrologists according acr clinical criteria oa second subsample examined two metrologists two rheumatologists independently test interobserver variation data analyzed percentage agreement concordance using kappa statisticafter two mailouts 59 responded 526 males 796 females definite oa excluding spine alone reported 52 males 10 155 females 195 possible oa 62 males 118 164 females 206 following examination 81 selfreported definite oa confirmed 57 possibles one selfreported negative determined clinical oa reporting specific joint oa less reliable highly reliable selfreporting general oa good agreement demonstrated rheumatologists metrologists clinical diagnosispostal questionnaires potential detect oa community clinical diagnosis confirmed trained metrologist evaluation instrument warranted populations