PROsetta: An R Package for Linking Patient-Reported Outcome Measures

Area of Science:

• Health Outcomes Research
• Psychometrics
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Comparing patient-reported outcomes (PROs) across diverse populations and studies is difficult due to incommensurate metrics.
• Lack of standardized scoring methods (e.g., raw vs. scaled scores) hinders cross-study comparisons and meta-analyses.
• Existing linking techniques, while successful in education, are not optimized for health outcome data harmonization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the challenge of harmonizing disparate PRO measures.
• To introduce a standardized protocol and software package for linking PRO data.
• To facilitate comparability of health outcomes across different studies and clinical settings.

Main Methods:

• Development of the PROsetta R package, specifically designed for linking PROs.
• Application of established linking techniques adapted for health outcome data.
• Dissemination of a standardized protocol for PRO data harmonization.

Main Results:

• The PROsetta package provides tailored tools for linking PROs, filling a gap in existing statistical software.
• A standardized protocol for linking PROs has been established and is being disseminated.
• Facilitates the comparison of health outcomes across diverse studies and populations.

Conclusions:

• The PROsetta package and protocol offer a standardized approach to linking PROs.
• This harmonization is crucial for advancing comparative effectiveness research and meta-analyses in health outcomes.
• Enables more robust and reliable comparisons of patient experiences across different healthcare settings and research studies.