Repeatability of nerve thickness assessment in the clinical examination for leprosy

Kolappan, C and Selvaraj, R and Khudoos, A and Appe Gowda, B N and Datta, M and Prabhakar, R (1995) Repeatability of nerve thickness assessment in the clinical examination for leprosy. Leprosy Review, 66. pp. 224-228. ISSN 0305-7518

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Abstract

The assessment of the thickness of the superficial peripheral nerve trunks to document nerve involvement is an important aspect of clinical examination in case finding for leprosy, and is usually done by trained paramedical workers (PMWs). This assessment is subject to variability and has implications on the outcome of the survey. The present study proposes to quantify this variability. In this study, 242 individuals, consisting of 50 neuritic cases, 143 nonneuritic cases of leprosy and 49 normal controls, selected from the records of the trial of BCG prophylaxis in leprosy in South India, were examined by a doctor and paramedical workers. Repeatability of nerve thickness assessment for ulnar aud popliteal nerves between the medical officer (MO) and the PMWs was quantified using Kappa statistics. The Kappa values for repeatability between the MO and the PMWs ranged from 0.45 to 0.54 and 0.52 to 0.69 for ulnar and popliteal nerves, respectively. The implications of the variability in nerve assessment are discussed.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	Leprosy
Divisions:	Clinical Research
Depositing User:	Dr. Rathinasabapati R
Date Deposited:	26 Sep 2013 07:33
Last Modified:	14 Mar 2016 05:25
URI:	http://eprints.nirt.res.in/id/eprint/393

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