Photo Credit: SDI Productions

The following is a summary of “Development of START, a novel multimedia-based symptom appraisal tool for autoimmune rheumatic disease,” published in the January 2025 issue of Rheumatology by Xiang et al. 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to develop and pilot test START, a multimedia-based symptom appraisal tool for autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARDs), which showed promising sensitivity and specificity. 

They developed START using a social cognitive theory-based framework and consensus-based lists of ARDs and manifestations. START was revised through expert panel reviews and cognitive debriefing interviews (CDIs) with 20 patients newly referred for ARD assessment. The pilot-tested START to evaluate its sensitivity, specificity, and test-retest reliability. 

The results showed that 33 of 59 manifestations reached expert consensus for content validity, with 26 removed. Similar manifestations were grouped into 19 items. Revisions were made based on CDIs with 36 patients and expert panel review. Pilot testing in 145 patients with ARDs, 133 patients with non-ARDs, and 155 healthy controls showed sensitivity of 86.2%, specificity of 80.9%, and test-retest reliability of 0.789. 

Investigators developed a novel multimedia-based symptom appraisal tool for ARDs, overcoming limitations of existing tools. The tool demonstrated promising sensitivity and specificity in detecting patients with known ARDs. 

Source: academic.oup.com/rheumatology/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/rheumatology/keaf040/7979253