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Functional Index-3: A Valid and Reliable Functional Outcome Assessment Measure in Patients With Dermatomyositis and
Floranne C Ernste1, Christopher Chong2, Cynthia S Crowson3
1F.C. Ernste, MD, Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA; ernste.floranne@mayo.edu.
Objective:
Patients with dermatomyositis (DM) and polymyositis (PM) have reduced muscle endurance.The aim of this study was to streamline the Functional Index-2 (FI-2) by developing the Functional Index-3 (FI-3) and to evaluate its measurement properties, content and construct validity, and intra- and interrater reliability.
Methods:
A dataset of the previously performed and validated FI-2 (n = 63) was analyzed for internal redundancy, floor, and ceiling effects. The content of the FI-2 was revised into the FI-3. Construct validity and intrarater reliability of FI-3 were tested on 43 DM and PM patients at 2 rheumatology centers. Interrater reliability was tested in 25 patients. The construct validity was compared with the Myositis Activities Profile (MAP), Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), and Borg CR-10 using Spearman correlation coefficient.
Results:
Spearman correlation coefficients of 63 patients performing FI-3 revealed moderate to high correlations between shoulder flexion and hip flexion tasks and similar correlations with MAP and HAQ scores; there were lower correlations for neck flexion task. All FI-3 tasks had very low to moderate correlations with the Borg scale. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) of FI-3 tasks for intrarater reliability (n = 25) were moderate to good (0.88-0.98). ICC of FI-3 tasks for interrater reliability (n = 17) were fair to good (range 0.83-0.96).
Conclusion:
The FI-3 is an efficient and valid method for clinically assessing muscle endurance in DM and PM patients. FI-3 construct validity is supported by the significant correlations between functional tasks and the MAP, HAQ, and Borg CR-10 scores.
