Visual assessment of the spine bruckel instrument, a novel status tool to reflect appearance of the spine in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.
OBJECTIVE
The Visual Assessment of the Spine Bruckel Instrument (VASBI) is a new status tool developed by the Spondylitis Association of America and the University of Toronto to reflect spinal appearance in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Our objective was to validate the VASBI according to the Outcome Measures in Rheumatoid Arthritis Clinical Trials filter (truth, discrimination, and feasibility).


METHODS
Three hundred patients with AS were asked to rate their degree of perceived spinal deformity using the VASBI. To evaluate construct validity, VASBI scores were compared with functional outcome, spinal mobility, and radiographic spinal damage. Test-retest reliability was evaluated using kappa statistic (kappa).


RESULTS
Patient VASBI demonstrated strong correlation with spinal mobility (r = 0.543) and moderate correlation with functional impairment (r = 0.490) and structural damage (r = 0.309). Reliability for VASBI was very good (kappa = 0.973, p < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
The VASBI is a novel tool with practical applications in a busy clinical setting as it simplifies assessment of AS spinal deformity. Our study demonstrates that the VASBI has good feasibility, construct validity, and reliability.
Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Dominik W
DW
Podbielski
Jane
J
Bruckel
Emma
E
Pomeroy
Robert D
RD
Inman
Robert W
RW
Warren
Laurie M
LM
Savage
Jenny
J
Richardson
Angelo
A
Papachristos
Rebecca J
RJ
Mogg
Millicent A
MA
Stone
D000328:Adult; D019937:Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011187:Posture; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular / Q000502:physiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013131:Spine / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013167:Spondylitis, Ankylosing / Q000473:pathology*; D006113:United Kingdom