title: Observer variation in equine abdominal auscultation.
abstract: The reliability of abdominal auscultation was investigated via an observer variation study. Clinicians listened to a variety of minute-long equine gut sound recordings. They evaluated the amount of gut sounds as 'absent', 'decreased', 'normal', or 'increased'. They subsequently evaluated the same recordings replayed in a different order. Intra- and inter-observer agreement was measured by the statistic kappa. There was significant intra-observer (kappa 0.57) agreement, but less agreement between observers (kappa 0.37). The best agreement was on the classification of sound tracks as 'absent' (intra-observer kappa 0.72 and inter-observer kappa 0.55). There was significant correlation between the clinicians' average assessment of the recordings and their acoustic energy levels. In this study abdominal noise was reliably assessed by auscultation. Standardised techniques and definitions would probably enhance the reliability of abdominal auscultation for the evaluation of gastrointestinal disease.
authors.affiliation: Diagnostic Laboratory, New York State College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca 14851.
authors.forename: E E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Ehrhardt
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Lowe
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000662:veterinary*; D000818:Animals; D001314:Auscultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000662:veterinary; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000662:veterinary*; D005769:Gastrointestinal Motility; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006736:Horses; D016018:Least-Squares Analysis; D015588:Observer Variation; D014743:Videotape Recording