Reliability of the International Spinal Cord Injury Bowel Function Basic and Extended Data Sets.

Study design: This study was designed as an international validation study. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the inter-rater reliability of the International Spinal Cord Injury Bowel Function Basic and Extended Data Sets. Setting: Three European spinal cord injury centers. Methods: In total, 73 subjects with spinal cord injury and a history of bowel dysfunction, out of which 77% were men and median age of the subjects was 49 years (range 20–81), were studied. The inter-rater reliability was estimated by having two raters complete both data sets on the same subject. First and second tests were separated by 14 days. Cohen’s kappa was computed as a measure of agreement between raters. Results: Inter-rater reliability assessed by kappa statistics was very good (X0.81) in 5 items, good (0.61–0.80) in 11 items, moderate (0.41–0.60) in 20 items, fair (0.21–0.40) in 11 and poor (o0.20) in 5 items. Conclusion: Most items within the International Spinal Cord Injury Bowel Function Data sets have acceptable inter-rater reliability and are useful tools for data collection in international clinical practice and research. However, minor adjustments are recommended. Spinal Cord (2011) 49, 886–891; doi:10.1038/sc.2011.23; published online 29 March 2011