Photo Credit: AND-ONE
The following is a summary of “Development and Validation of a Novel Training Infographic for the Physician Global Visual Analog Scale in Psoriatic Arthritis,” published in the November 2024 issue of Rheumatology by Gunawardana et al.
Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) affects joints and skin. Physician global VAS, crucial in clinical scoring, lacks standardized training.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to analyze PsA, characterized by joint and skin symptoms.
They developed a training infographic for the PsA Validation of Physician Global VAS (PAVLOVAS) project with stakeholder input. In a Latin square design, 20 patients were assessed by 10 clinicians. Traditional assessments were performed by 5 assessors (66/68-joint count, body surface area, Leeds Enthesitis Index, and dactylitis and nail counts), while five used the infographic for a thorough examination, switching assessment types between groups. They compared the 3-item (3VAS) and 4VAS scores from both methods, along with other composite scores.
The results showed strong agreement between traditional and infographic PAVLOVAS (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] 0.69, P = 0.01), improving to very strong agreement when included in the 3VAS (ICC 0.99, P < 0.001) and 4VAS (ICC 0.99, P < 0.001). The infographic group had significantly shorter assessment times compared to the traditional group (6.5 vs. 7.8 mins, P < 0.001). Moderately high agreement existed between 3VAS and 4VAS disease activity categories, matching those defined by the Psoriatic Arthritis Disease Activity Score (PASDAS) and Disease Activity Index for Psoriatic Arthritis (DAPSA; χ2 17.0, P = 0.049).
The study concluded that a novel training infographic was developed and validated, facilitating a more efficient PAVLOVAS assessment than traditional methods, with potential clinical applications.
Source: jrheum.org/content/51/11/1084
