Reproducibility of clinical grading of tonsillar size.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the reproducibility of the Brodsky grading scale and the modified 3-grade and 5-grade scales in reporting the size of the tonsils.


METHODS
Retrospective review of 60 video recordings of tonsil examination by 12 independent observers with different clinical backgrounds and various levels of training. The sizes of the tonsils were graded using different grading scales.


METHODS
Tertiary care university hospital.


METHODS
The video recordings were chosen from an ongoing epidemiologic study of sleep-related breathing disorder in children in Hong Kong. Main Outcomes Measures The intraobserver and interobserver reproducibility of each grading scale was determined using intraclass correlation. An intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) exceeding 0.75 was set a priori to indicate an acceptable level of reliability.


RESULTS
The mean intraobserver ICCs for the Brodsky grading scale and the modified 3-grade and 5-grade scales were 0.858, 0.830, and 0.865, respectively. The mean interobserver ICCs for the Brodsky grading scale and the modified 3-grade and 5-grade scales were 0.763, 0.739, and 0.783, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The Brodsky grading scale and the modified 5-grade scale achieved acceptable intraobserver and interobserver reproducibility.
Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Prince of Wales Hospital, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin NT, Hong Kong SAR.
Siu Kwan
SK
Ng
Dennis Lip Yen
DL
Lee
Albert Martin
AM
Li
Yun Kwok
YK
Wing
Michael Chi Fai
MC
Tong
D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D015588:Observer Variation; D009929:Organ Size; D014066:Palatine Tonsil / Q000473:pathology*; D010608:Pharyngeal Diseases / Q000145:classification* / Q000150:complications; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D014741:Video Recording