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DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1742342
Validation of a Simple Instrument of Fast Application to Track Disability in Leprosy Patients
Article in several languages: português | English
Abstract
Objective To evaluate a simple and fast diagnostic instrument to be used by any health professional to track the disability presented by leprosy patients.
Method Validation study of a diagnostic test performed in a sample of 156 leprosy patients to track functional disability through the shortened disabilities of arm, shoulder, and hand (QuickDASH) questionnaire. The simplified neurological assessment proposed by the World Health Organization was used as a reference. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was constructed to determine the cutoff point of QuickDASH that best discriminated patients with functional disability caused by leprosy.
Results We identified 86 (55.5%) patients with functional disability by simplified neurological evaluation. The performance of the QuickDASH instrument showed that, at a cut-off point of 30 points, the sensitivity and specificity were 72.1% and 68.1% (accuracy of 70.3%), respectively, to identify functional disability, with a positive predictive value of 73.8%.
Conclusion The QuickDASH instrument showed good accuracy to track functional disability in leprosy patients, and it may be useful in clinical practice of primary and general outpatient care, with the goal of identifying patients who need specialized reference for the prevention and treatment of this condition.
Financial Support
There was no financial support from public, commercial, or non-profit sources.
Work developed at the Hospital Universitário Júlio Müller, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, MT, Brazil.
Publication History
Received: 28 April 2021
Accepted: 14 October 2021
Article published online:
27 June 2022
© 2022. Sociedade Brasileira de Ortopedia e Traumatologia. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commecial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
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