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A Korean rheumatic diseases screening questionnaire.
Hye-Soon Lee1, Kwang-Taek Oh, Tae-Hwan Kim
1Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Hanyang University College of Medicine, The Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, Seoul, Korea. scbae@hanyang.ac.kr
Journal of Korean Medical Science
|April 15, 2003
Summary
A new Korean rheumatic disease screening questionnaire was developed and validated. It demonstrates high sensitivity and specificity, making it a valuable tool for epidemiological studies in Korea.
Area of Science:
- Rheumatology
- Epidemiology
- Medical Diagnostics
Background:
- Rheumatic diseases pose a significant health burden globally and in Korea.
- Existing screening tools may not be optimized for the Korean population.
- Accurate and accessible screening is crucial for early diagnosis and management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a Korean-language screening questionnaire for rheumatic diseases.
- To assess the reliability, sensitivity, and specificity of the developed questionnaire.
- To facilitate epidemiological research on rheumatic diseases in Korea.
Main Methods:
- The questionnaire was designed based on American College of Rheumatology criteria and existing screening tools.
- Two patient groups were recruited: cases with various rheumatic diseases and controls with fibromyalgia or no rheumatic disease.
- Statistical analyses included kappa statistics for reliability and agreement, and calculation of sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values.
Main Results:
- Test-retest reliability showed strong agreement (kappa=0.91).
- The questionnaire achieved high sensitivity (77.8-100%) and specificity (68.8-95.0%).
- Negative predictive values were excellent (98.4-99.99%), indicating high accuracy in identifying those without disease.
Conclusions:
- A simple, sensitive, and reliable Korean rheumatic disease screening questionnaire has been successfully developed.
- This tool is suitable for epidemiological studies of rheumatic diseases in the Korean population.
- The questionnaire's performance characteristics support its use in clinical and public health settings.