Reliability of the questionnaire for verifying stroke-free status.
BACKGROUND
The Questionnaire for Verifying Stroke-Free Status (QVSS) is a practical instrument for confirming absence of previous symptomatic stroke or transient ischemic attack in control subjects participating in stroke research.


METHODS
We tested reliability of telephone administration of the QVSS in stroke patients and healthy volunteers aged >/=50 years. For intrarater reliability, one interviewer administered the QVSS twice to the same subjects 8 weeks apart (115 subjects). For interrater reliability, one interviewer administered the QVSS and a different interviewer readministered the QVSS 8 weeks later (107 subjects). Both interviewer and interviewee were masked to responses from the first interview.


RESULTS
Intrarater agreement for overall classification of stroke-free status was 0.90 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.82-0.94], with a kappa of 0.78 (95% CI, 0.67-0.90). Interrater agreement for overall classification was 0.94 (95% CI, 0.88-0.98), with a kappa of 0.89 (95% CI, 0.80-0.97).


CONCLUSIONS
The QVSS is a reliable instrument for telephone interviews in stroke research when applied to adult populations without severe deficits of cognition or verbal communication.
Meschia
James F
JF
Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Fla., USA. meschia.james@mayo.edu
Lojacono
Marc A
MA
Miller
Mary J
MJ
Brott
Thomas G
TG
Atkinson
Elizabeth J
EJ
O'Brien
Peter C
PC
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D002546:Ischemic Attack, Transient / Q000175:diagnosis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020521:Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D013689:Telephone