Assessing risk of bias in prevalence studies: modification of an existing tool and evidence of interrater agreement

Hoy, Damian, Brooks, Peter, Woolf, Anthony, Blyth, Fiona, March, Lyn, Bain, Chris, Baker, Peter, Smith, Emma and Buchbinder, Rachelle (2012) Assessing risk of bias in prevalence studies: modification of an existing tool and evidence of interrater agreement. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 65 9: 934-939.

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Author Hoy, Damian
Brooks, Peter
Woolf, Anthony
Blyth, Fiona
March, Lyn
Bain, Chris
Baker, Peter
Smith, Emma
Buchbinder, Rachelle
Title Assessing risk of bias in prevalence studies: modification of an existing tool and evidence of interrater agreement
Journal name Journal of Clinical Epidemiology  (ERA 2012 Listed)    (ERA 2010 Rank A)   Check publisher's open access policy
Publication date 2012-09
Sub-type Article
DOI 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2011.11.014
Volume number 65
Issue number 9
ISSN 0895-4356; 1878-5921
Start page 934
End page 939
Total pages 6
Place of publication Philadelphia, PA, United States
Publisher Elsevier
Collection year 2013
Language eng
Formatted abstract Objective
In the course of performing systematic reviews on the prevalence of low back and neck pain, we required a tool to assess the risk of study bias. Our objectives were to (1) modify an existing checklist and (2) test the final tool for interrater agreement.

Study Design and Setting
The final tool consists of 10 items addressing four domains of bias plus a summary risk of bias assessment. Two researchers tested the interrater agreement of the tool by independently assessing 54 randomly selected studies. Interrater agreement overall and for each individual item was assessed using the proportion of agreement and Kappa statistic.

Results
Raters found the tool easy to use, and there was high interrater agreement: overall agreement was 91% and the Kappa statistic was 0.82 (95% confidence interval: 0.76, 0.86). Agreement was almost perfect for the individual items on the tool and moderate for the summary assessment.

Conclusion
We have addressed a research gap by modifying and testing a tool to assess risk of study bias. Further research may be useful for assessing the applicability of the tool across different conditions.
Keyword Assessment
Bias
Prevalence
Instrument
Quality
Review
Q-Index Code C1
Q-Index Status Confirmed Code
Institutional Status UQ

Document type: Journal Article
Sub-type: Article
Collections: Official 2013 Collection
School of Population Health Publications
 
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