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Reliability of Using a Smartphone Application to Objectify Skull Deformation
Sofie Meijer1, Imke Suir, Francois Maissan
1Geeresteingroep Fysiotherapie & Sport (Ms Meijer), Woudenberg, the Netherlands; Master Pediatric Physical Therapy Program (Mss Meijer and Suir), Institute of Human Movement Studies, HU University of Applied Sciences, Utrecht, the Netherlands; Research Group Lifestyle and Health (Ms Suir, Mr Maissan, and Dr Nuysink), Knowledge Center Healthy and Sustainable Living, HU University of Applied Sciences, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Insights
The Skully Care App demonstrates excellent reliability for assessing infantile skull deformation severity using cranial photographs. This smartphone tool is highly dependable for pediatric physical therapists in clinical use.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Physical Therapy
- Medical Imaging
- Infant Health
Background:
- Infantile skull deformation requires accurate assessment for effective treatment.
- Current methods for measuring skull asymmetry can be resource-intensive.
- Smartphone applications offer a potential for accessible and reliable diagnostic tools.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the intrarater and interrater reliability of a novel smartphone application, the Skully Care App.
- To determine the accuracy of photographic measurements for assessing infantile skull deformation severity.
Main Methods:
- A pediatric physical therapist and two master's students used the Skully Care App to photograph the heads of 30 infants (up to 12 months old).
- Severity of skull deformation was quantified using the Modified Cranial Vault Asymmetry Index (mCVAI) and Cranial Index (CI).
- Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated to assess reliability.
Main Results:
- Excellent intrarater reliability was observed for both mCVAI (ICC(3,1) = 0.97) and CI (ICC(3,1) = 0.98).
- Excellent interrater reliability was also achieved for mCVAI (ICC(2,1) = 0.97) and CI (ICC(2,1) = 0.99).
Conclusions:
- The Skully Care App exhibits excellent reliability for pediatric physical therapists in assessing infantile skull deformation.
- This app provides a dependable tool for objective measurement and monitoring of cranial asymmetry in infants.
Purpose:
To establish intrarater and interrater reliability of photographs made in a newly developed smartphone app to determine the severity of infantile skull deformation by taking a cranial photograph of an infant's head.
Methods:
Using the app, 1 pediatric physical therapist and 2 pediatric physical therapy master students photographed heads of 30 infants aged up to 12 months receiving treatment for asymmetric or delayed motor development. Modified Cranial Vault Asymmetry Index and Cranial Index determined the severity of skull deformation.
Results:
Intrarater reliability was excellent both for mCVAI and CI, with an ICC(3,1) = 0.97, and ICC(3,1) = 0.98, respectively. Interrater reliability with an ICC(2,1) = 0.97 for the mCVAI, and ICC(2,1) = 0.99 for the CI was excellent too.
Conclusion:
The reliability of the Skully Care App proved to be excellent when used by pediatric physical therapists.Supplemental Digital Content 1. Video Abstract available at: http://links.lww.com/PPT/A399 .
