title: Terminology and definitions on groin pain in athletes: building agreement using a short Delphi method.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Groin pain in athletes occurs frequently and can be difficult to treat, which may partly be due to the lack of agreement on diagnostic terminology.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To perform a short Delphi survey on terminology agreement for groin pain in athletes by a group of experts.
  
  
  METHODS
  A selected number of experts were invited to participate in a Delphi questionnaire. The study coordinator sent a questionnaire, which consisted of demographic questions and two 'real-life' case reports of athletes with groin pain. The experts were asked to complete the questionnaire and to provide the most likely diagnosis for each case. Questionnaire responses were analysed by an independent researcher. The Cohen's κ statistic was used to evaluate the level of agreement between the diagnostic terms provided by the experts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-three experts participated (96% of those invited). For case 1, experts provided 9 different terms to describe the most likely diagnosis; for case 2, 11 different terms were provided to describe the most likely diagnosis. With respect to the terms provided for the most likely diagnosis, the Cohen's κ was 0.06 and 0.002 for case 1 and 2, respectively. This heterogeneous taxonomy reflects only a slight agreement between the various diagnostic terms provided by the selected experts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This short Delphi survey of two 'typical, straightforward' cases demonstrated major inconsistencies in the diagnostic terminology used by experts for groin pain in athletes. These results underscore the need for consensus on definitions and terminology on groin pain in athletes.
authors.affiliation: Aspetar Sports Groin Pain Center, Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weir
authors.affiliation: Aspetar Sports Groin Pain Center, Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar Arthroscopic Center Amager, SORC-C, Copenhagen University Hospital, Amager-Hvidovre, Denmark.
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hölmich
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Anthony G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Schache
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Physiotherapy & Population Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Eamonn
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Delahunt
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Robert-Jan
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: de Vos
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000175:diagnosis*; D032921:Consensus; D003697:Delphi Technique; D006119:Groin; D006801:Humans; D013177:Sports / Q000502:physiology*; D009626:Terminology as Topic
keywords: Consensus; Groin; Methodological; Muscle; Tendon