Electronic data capture (EDC) using cellular technology: implications for clinical trials and practice, and preliminary experience with the m-Womac Index in hip and knee OA patients.
OBJECTIVE
The capture, analysis and utilisation of health status information are attended by logistic considerations and interpretation challenges. We report a preliminary evaluation of cellular technology in capturing WOMAC NRS 3.1 Index data.


METHODS
A Java midlet for delivering the WOMAC NRS3.1 Index on Nokia-6300, Motorola-V3 and Samsung-A711 mobile phones was developed by Exco InTouch. Following task orientation, patients completed the paper-based WOMAC (p-WOMAC questionnaire, and then the three mobile phonebased WOMAC (m-WOMAC applications, in random order.


RESULTS
All 12 patients (age range = 55-82 years) successfully completed the m-WOMAC Index on each of the three phones, and all were found acceptable by patients. With respect to m-WOMAC mean overall rank score, no significant difference was found between the 3 phones (Friedman's chi square (2 df) = 2.2, p = 0.34) however, Motorola V3 was favoured with the best mean rank. Pearson correlation between the average p-WOMAC and average m-WOMAC score was 0.996.


CONCLUSIONS
Patient reported ratings indicated the m-WOMAC application performed well on all three phones. EDC provides unique opportunities for using quantitative measurement in both clinical practice and research.
Bellamy
N
N
Centre of National Research on Disability and Rehabilitation Medicine (CONROD), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4006, Australia. n.bellamy@uq.edu.au
Wilson
C
C
Hendrikz
J
J
Patel
B
B
Dennison
S
S
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D040421:Cell Phone; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D001330:Electronic Data Processing / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015207:Osteoarthritis, Hip / Q000175:diagnosis*; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires