2 Matching Annotations
  1. Jul 2018
    1. On 2014 Jan 08, Tom Kindlon commented:

      "SF-36 physical function" should read "SF-36 PCS" I believe

      There are 8 SF-36 subscales: Physical Functioning, Role-Physical, Bodily Pain, General Health, Vitality, Social functioning, Role-Emotional and Mental Health. There are also two composite scores: Physical Composite Score (PCS) and Mental Composite Score (MCS). Following the link used in the text http://www.sf-36.org/nbscalc/index.shtml , one can see the population norms for Sweden: (Mean, SD) Physical Function(ing) (87.9, 19.6), Role-Physical (83.2, 31.8), Bodily Pain (74.8, 26.1), General Health (75.8, 22.2) Vitality (68.8, 22.8), Social functioning (88.6, 20.3), Role-Emotional (85.7, 29.2), Mental Health (80.9, 18.9), Physical Composite Score (PCS) (50.0, 10) and Mental Composite Score (MCS) (50.0, 10). We are told that the Physical Function score (Median, IQR) for the unaffected twins is (48, 39-52). These are not SF-36 physical functioning scores of healthy individuals e.g. one would expect a higher median (remember that the population mean is 87.9) and one would expect a score higher than 52 as part of the IQR. Given we are given only two values, I presume what the authors mean when they say "SF-36 physical function" and "SF-36 mental function" is SF-36 Physical Composite Score (PCS) and SF-36 Mental Composite Score (MCS).

      This is important as it tells one both the health of the unaffected twins but also the health of those with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and idiopathic chronic fatigue: a group with a physical function score (median, IQR) (41, 27-48) is quite severely affected. However, if those are Physical Composite Scores they are a relatively mildly affected cohort for CFS cases.


      This comment, imported by Hypothesis from PubMed Commons, is licensed under CC BY.

  2. Feb 2018
    1. On 2014 Jan 08, Tom Kindlon commented:

      "SF-36 physical function" should read "SF-36 PCS" I believe

      There are 8 SF-36 subscales: Physical Functioning, Role-Physical, Bodily Pain, General Health, Vitality, Social functioning, Role-Emotional and Mental Health. There are also two composite scores: Physical Composite Score (PCS) and Mental Composite Score (MCS). Following the link used in the text http://www.sf-36.org/nbscalc/index.shtml , one can see the population norms for Sweden: (Mean, SD) Physical Function(ing) (87.9, 19.6), Role-Physical (83.2, 31.8), Bodily Pain (74.8, 26.1), General Health (75.8, 22.2) Vitality (68.8, 22.8), Social functioning (88.6, 20.3), Role-Emotional (85.7, 29.2), Mental Health (80.9, 18.9), Physical Composite Score (PCS) (50.0, 10) and Mental Composite Score (MCS) (50.0, 10). We are told that the Physical Function score (Median, IQR) for the unaffected twins is (48, 39-52). These are not SF-36 physical functioning scores of healthy individuals e.g. one would expect a higher median (remember that the population mean is 87.9) and one would expect a score higher than 52 as part of the IQR. Given we are given only two values, I presume what the authors mean when they say "SF-36 physical function" and "SF-36 mental function" is SF-36 Physical Composite Score (PCS) and SF-36 Mental Composite Score (MCS).

      This is important as it tells one both the health of the unaffected twins but also the health of those with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and idiopathic chronic fatigue: a group with a physical function score (median, IQR) (41, 27-48) is quite severely affected. However, if those are Physical Composite Scores they are a relatively mildly affected cohort for CFS cases.


      This comment, imported by Hypothesis from PubMed Commons, is licensed under CC BY.