title: Assessing disease activity and disease activity indices for inflammatory bowel disease.
abstract: A crucial step in the development of clinical trials to determine the efficacy of various therapies for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been the creation of activity indices. This article reviews the major components and operating characteristics of clinical activity indices commonly used in randomized, controlled trials of IBD therapy. In addition, the paper provides a brief overview of the developmental requirements for any new index.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, Canada T2N 4N1.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Xiao Li
authors.forename: Lloyd R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Sutherland
mesh_terms: D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D011788:Quality of Life; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires