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Interchangeability of patient pain, fatigue and global scores in patients with spondyloarthritis - a registry-based simulation study

Georgiadis, Stylianos ; Di Giuseppe, Daniela ; Scherer, Almut ; Hetland, Merete Lund ; Jones, Gareth T. ; Glintborg, Bente ; Loft, Anne Gitte ; Wallman, Johan K. LU ; Michelsen, Brigitte and Kristianslund, Eirik Klami , et al. (2025) In BMC Rheumatology 9(1).
Abstract

Background: To investigate a patient-level single imputation approach for patient reported outcomes (PROs) that express similar contents or associated PROs, where a PRO whose value is missing at a particular timepoint is substituted by another PRO whose value is available at the same timepoint. Methods: We performed a simulation study on registry-based spondyloarthritis data to explore the potential interchangeability between the patient pain (PPA) and fatigue (PFA) assessment scores and relevant Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) individual questions, and between PPA, PFA and patient global assessment (PGA). Performance was assessed per imputation method in terms of relative bias and coverage. Sample size,... (More)

Background: To investigate a patient-level single imputation approach for patient reported outcomes (PROs) that express similar contents or associated PROs, where a PRO whose value is missing at a particular timepoint is substituted by another PRO whose value is available at the same timepoint. Methods: We performed a simulation study on registry-based spondyloarthritis data to explore the potential interchangeability between the patient pain (PPA) and fatigue (PFA) assessment scores and relevant Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) individual questions, and between PPA, PFA and patient global assessment (PGA). Performance was assessed per imputation method in terms of relative bias and coverage. Sample size, level of missingness and missing data pattern were included as parameters in the simulations. Results: All applied scenarios to interchange PPA with BASDAI question 2 (axial pain), BASDAI question 3 (peripheral joint pain/swelling) or their average failed. Interchangeability between PFA and BASDAI question 1 (fatigue/tiredness) was acceptable for partially (up to 50%) missing data. When interchanging patient assessment scores (PPA, PFA and PGA), we observed inconsistent results in terms of performance. The performance of the applied methods depended on the sample size and the level of missingness, but not heavily on the underlying missing data pattern. Conclusions: Interchanging PFA and the BASDAI fatigue question was justified for partially missing data, while interchangeability between PPA, PFA and PGA, and between PPA and the BASDAI pain questions was not advised. Our findings suggest that registering patient assessment scores and BASDAI questions is recommended.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Missing data, Patient reported outcomes, Registry data, Single imputation, Spondyloarthritis
in
BMC Rheumatology
volume
9
issue
1
article number
75
publisher
BioMed Central (BMC)
external identifiers
  • pmid:40598662
  • scopus:105009714557
ISSN
2520-1026
DOI
10.1186/s41927-025-00527-6
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
.
id
46c82d09-7849-4d26-a462-b861c013c212
date added to LUP
2025-10-28 13:32:00
date last changed
2025-10-29 03:00:04
@article{46c82d09-7849-4d26-a462-b861c013c212,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background: To investigate a patient-level single imputation approach for patient reported outcomes (PROs) that express similar contents or associated PROs, where a PRO whose value is missing at a particular timepoint is substituted by another PRO whose value is available at the same timepoint. Methods: We performed a simulation study on registry-based spondyloarthritis data to explore the potential interchangeability between the patient pain (PPA) and fatigue (PFA) assessment scores and relevant Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) individual questions, and between PPA, PFA and patient global assessment (PGA). Performance was assessed per imputation method in terms of relative bias and coverage. Sample size, level of missingness and missing data pattern were included as parameters in the simulations. Results: All applied scenarios to interchange PPA with BASDAI question 2 (axial pain), BASDAI question 3 (peripheral joint pain/swelling) or their average failed. Interchangeability between PFA and BASDAI question 1 (fatigue/tiredness) was acceptable for partially (up to 50%) missing data. When interchanging patient assessment scores (PPA, PFA and PGA), we observed inconsistent results in terms of performance. The performance of the applied methods depended on the sample size and the level of missingness, but not heavily on the underlying missing data pattern. Conclusions: Interchanging PFA and the BASDAI fatigue question was justified for partially missing data, while interchangeability between PPA, PFA and PGA, and between PPA and the BASDAI pain questions was not advised. Our findings suggest that registering patient assessment scores and BASDAI questions is recommended.</p>}},
  author       = {{Georgiadis, Stylianos and Di Giuseppe, Daniela and Scherer, Almut and Hetland, Merete Lund and Jones, Gareth T. and Glintborg, Bente and Loft, Anne Gitte and Wallman, Johan K. and Michelsen, Brigitte and Kristianslund, Eirik Klami and Yazici, Ayten and Birlik, Merih and Závada, Jakub and Nissen, Michael J. and Ciurea, Adrian and Gudbjornsson, Bjorn and Palsson, Olafur and Rotar, Ziga and Tomšič, Matija and Relas, Heikki and Huhtakangas, Johanna and Rodrigues, Ana Maria and Santos, Maria José and Castrejon, Isabel and Díaz-González, Federico and van de Sande, Marleen and Hellamand, Pasoon and Ørnbjerg, Lykke Midtbøll}},
  issn         = {{2520-1026}},
  keywords     = {{Missing data; Patient reported outcomes; Registry data; Single imputation; Spondyloarthritis}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
  series       = {{BMC Rheumatology}},
  title        = {{Interchangeability of patient pain, fatigue and global scores in patients with spondyloarthritis - a registry-based simulation study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s41927-025-00527-6}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/s41927-025-00527-6}},
  volume       = {{9}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}