Intra-cluster correlation coefficients in adults with diabetes in primary care practices: the Vermont Diabetes Information System field survey.
BACKGROUND
Proper estimation of sample size requirements for cluster-based studies requires estimates of the intra-cluster correlation coefficient (ICC) for the variables of interest.


METHODS
We calculated the ICC for 112 variables measured as part of the Vermont Diabetes Information System, a cluster-randomized study of adults with diabetes from 73 primary care practices (the clusters) in Vermont and surrounding areas.


RESULTS
ICCs varied widely around a median value of 0.0185 (Inter-quartile range: 0.006, 0.037). Some characteristics (such as the proportion having a recent creatinine measurement) were highly associated with the practice (ICC = 0.288), while others (prevalence of some comorbidities and complications and certain aspects of quality of life) varied much more across patients with only small correlation within practices (ICC<0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
The ICC values reported here may be useful in designing future studies that use clustered sampling from primary care practices.
Littenberg
Benjamin
B
General Internal Medicine, University of Vermont, 371 Pearl Street, Burlington, VT, 05401, USA. benjamin.littenberg@vtmednet.org.
MacLean
Charles D
CD