Measurement and clinical evaluation of oropharyngeal dysphagia; a multidimensional approach

The scope of this thesis spanned several issues in the measurement and evaluation of OD. The screening, assessment, and treatment effect for OD have been covered,with a special emphasis on patient self-evaluation. LUMC / Geneeskund

Development of two patient self-reported measures on functional health Status (FOD) and Health-Related Quality of Life (QOD) in adults with oropharyngeal dysphagia using the Delphi technique

Introduction: Patient self-evaluation is an important aspect in the assessment of dysphagia and comprises both Functional Health Status (FHS) and Health-Related Quality of Life (HR-QoL). As many measures combine both FHS and HR-QoL, disease-related functioning cannot be distinguished from disease-related quality of life as experienced by the patient. Moreover, current patient self-reported measures are limited by poor and incomplete data on psychometric properties. Objective. This study aimed to establish content validity for the development of two new self-reported measures on FHS and HR-QoL in adults with oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD), in line with the psychometric taxonomy and guidelines from the COSMIN group (COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments). Methods. Using the Delphi technique, international expert consensus was achieved; participants and patients with dysphagia evaluated relevance, comprehensiveness, and comprehensibility of definitions of relevant constructs (i.e., dysphagia, FHS and HR-QoL) and potential items. Results: A total of 66 Delphi participants from 45 countries achieved consensus across two rounds. The Delphi study resulted in two prototype measures, the Functional health status measure of Oropharyngeal Dysphagia (FOD) and the health-related Quality of life measure of Oropharyngeal Dysphagia (QOD), consisting of 37 and 25 items, respectively. Minimal revisions were required based on feedback by patients. Conclusions: This study provides evidence of good content validity for both newly developed prototype measures FOD and QOD. Future studies will continue the process of refining the measures, and evaluate the remaining psychometric properties using both Classic Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT) models.Otorhinolaryngolog

Quality of life and voice outcome of patients treated with transoral CO2 laser microsurgery for early glottic carcinoma (T1-T2): a 2-year follow-up study

Purpose Longitudinal studies in laryngeal cancer can provide clinicians information about short-term and long-term functional outcomes, like quality of life (QoL) and voice outco

Measurement and clinical evaluation of oropharyngeal dysphagia; a multidimensional approach

The scope of this thesis spanned several issues in the measurement and evaluation of OD. The screening, assessment, and treatment effect for OD have been covered,with a special emphasis on patient self-evaluation. </table

Measurement and clinical evaluation of oropharyngeal dysphagia; a multidimensional approach

The scope of this thesis spanned several issues in the measurement and evaluation of OD. The screening, assessment, and treatment effect for OD have been covered,with a special emphasis on patient self-evaluation. </table

Environmental policy and the macroeconomy under shallow-lake dynamics

We study the environmental and economic effects of public abatement in the presence of multiple stable steady-state ecological equilibria. Under shallow-lake dynamics (SLD), the isocline for the stock of pollution features two stable branches, a good and a bad one. Assuming that the ecology is initially located on the upper (bad) branch of the isocline, the ecological equilibrium is hysteretic and a suitably designed temporary abatement policy can be used to steer the environment from the bad to the good equilibrium. In all models considered in this paper, a "cold turkey" abatement policy is optimal, i.e. the largest feasible shock should be administered for the shortest possible amount of time. Depending on the particular model used to characterize the economic system, there is a capital feedback effect that either helps or hinders the attainment of a successful abatement policy

Oncologic and functional outcomes of patients treated with transoral CO2 laser microsurgery or radiotherapy for T2 glottic carcinoma: a systematic review of the literature

Otorhinolaryngolog