Preliminary search strategy in OVID Medline (1950 to present)
| ‘Spinal disorder’ search terms | ‘PFI’ search terms | ‘Measurement properties’ search terms |
| 1. spine/or cervical vertebrae/or exp axis, cervical vertebra/or cervical atlas/or coccyx/or intervertebral disc/or lumbar vertebrae/or sacrum/or spinal canal/or epidural space/or thoracic vertebrae/ | 33. exp ‘Range of Motion, Articular’/ | 59. validation studies/ |
| 2. (spine or spinal or coccyx or ‘intervertebral disc’ or lumbar vertebrae or sacrum or ‘spinal canal’ or ‘thoracic vertebrae’ or ‘cervical vertebrae’).ab,ti. | 34. range of motion.ab,ti. | 60. Comparative Study/ |
| 3. low back pain/ | 35. Goniomet*.ab,ti. | 61. Psychometrics/ |
| 4. back Pain/or neck pain/ | 36. Joint motion measurement*.ab,ti. | 62. psychometr*.ab,ti. |
| 5. back/or neck/or lumbosacral region/or sacrococcygeal region/ | 37. Electrogoniomet*.ab,ti. | 63. clinimetr*.tw. |
| 6. (back or neck or ‘lumbosacral region’ or ‘sacrococcygeal region’).ab,ti. | 38. (Movement adj2 evaluation*).ab,ti. | 64. clinometr*.tw. |
| 7. Sciatica/ | 39. Inclinomet*.ab,ti. | 65. ‘Outcome Assessment (Health Care)"/ |
| 8. Neck Injury/or Whiplash Injuries/ | 40. Joint flexibility.ab,ti. | 66. ‘outcome assessment’.ab,ti. |
| 9. whiplash.ab,ti. | 41. Arthromet*.ab,ti. | 67. (‘outcome measure’ or ‘outcome measures’).tw. |
| 10. Dorsalgia.ti,ab. | 42. Joint mobility.ab,ti. | 68. Observer Variation/ |
| 11. coccydynia.ti,ab. | 43. Osteokinematic*.ab,ti. | 69. ‘observer variation’.ab,ti. |
| 12. ((‘cervical vertebrae’ or ‘cervical spine’ or craniovertebral or sacroiliac or verteb* or thoracic) adj2 (symptom* or injur* or disorder* or pain or dysfunction* or problem* or strain* or spain*)).ab,ti. | 44. Flexion.ab,ti. | 70. Health Status Indicators/ |
| 13. discitis.ti,ab. | 45. Extension.ab,ti. | 71. ‘Reproducibility of Results’/ |
| 14. (disc adj degeneration).ti,ab. | 46. Rotation/ | 72. reproducib*.ti,ab. |
| 15. (disc adj prolapse).ti,ab. | 47. side bend*.ab,ti. | 73. Discriminant Analysis/ |
| 16. (disc adj herniation).ti,ab. | 48. Work Capacity Evaluation/ | 74. reliab*.ab,ti. |
| 17. (facet adj joints).ti,ab. | 49. Disability Evaluation/and (Occupational Diseases/or Work/or Return to Work/) | 75. unreliab*.ab,ti. |
| 18. Intervertebral Disc/or annulus fibrosus/or nucleus pulposus/ | 50. Occupational Diseases/or Work/or Return to Work/ | 76. valid*.ab,ti. |
| 19. arachnoiditis.ti,ab. | 51. (impair* or disabilit* or abilit* or handicap* or ‘functional severity’ or ‘restriction of function’ or ‘capacity to work’ or ‘functional capacity’ or ‘disability rating’ or ‘impairment rating’ or ‘work fitness’).ab,ti. | 77. coefficient.ab,ti. |
| 20. Spinal Fusion/ | 52. 50 and 51 | 78. homogeneity.ab,ti. |
| 21. postlaminectomy.ti,ab. | 53. ((work* or occupat*) adj4 (capacity or impair* or disabilit* or abilit* or handicap* or ‘functional severity’ or ‘restriction of function’)).ab,ti. | 79. homogeneous.ab,ti. |
| 22. Backache*.ti,ab. | 54. (evaluation* or assessment* or instrument* or measurement* or tool* or scale* or questionnaire* or test* or determination*).ab,ti. | 80. ‘internal consistency’.ab,ti. |
| 23. back injuries/or spinal injuries/or spinal fractures/ | 55. 53 and 54 | 81. cronbach*.ab,ti. |
| 24. Spondylitis, Ankylosing/ | 56. ‘permanent functional impairment’.ab,ti. | 82. (alpha or alphas).ab,ti. |
| 25. Spondylitis/ | 57. (‘work performance evaluation’ or ‘work performance evaluations’).ab,ti. | 83. 81 and 82 |
| 26. spondylosis/or spondylolysis/or spondylolisthesis/ | 58. 33 or 34 or 35 or 36 or 37 or 38 or 39 or 40 or 41 or 42 or 43 or 44 or 45 or 46 or 47 or 48 or 49 or 52 or 55 or 56 or 57 | 84. item.ab,ti. |
| 27. Spinal Cord Compression/ | 85. (correlation* or selection* or reduction*).ab,ti. | |
| 28. (Musculoskeletal adj (symptom* or injur* or disorder* or pain or dysfunction* or problem*)).ab,ti. | 86. 84 and 85 | |
| 29. ((orthopedic or orthopaedic) adj (injur* or problem* or disorder* or dysfunction*)).ab,ti. | 87. agreement.ab,ti. | |
| 30. Pelvis/or lesser Pelvis/or pelvic floor/ | 88. precision.ab,ti. | |
| 31. (pelvi* adj3 (symptom* or injur* or disorder* or pain or dysfunction* or problem*)).ab,ti. | 89. imprecision.ab,ti. | |
| 32. 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 or 9 or 10 or 11 or 12 or 13 or 14 or 15 or 16 or 17 or 18 or 19 or 20 or 21 or 22 or 23 or 24 or 25 or 26 or 27 or 28 or 29 or 30 or 31 | 90. ‘precise values’.ab,ti. | |
| 91. test-retest.ab,ti. | ||
| 92. test.ab,ti. | ||
| 93. retest.ab,ti. | ||
| 94. 92 and 93 | ||
| 95. reliab*.ab,ti. | ||
| 96. (test or retest).ab,ti. | ||
| 97. 95 and 96 | ||
| 98. stability.ab,ti. | ||
| 99. interrater.ab,ti. | ||
| 100. inter-rater.ab,ti. | ||
| 101. intrarater.ab,ti. | ||
| 102. intra-rater.ab,ti. | ||
| 103. intertester.ab,ti. | ||
| 104. inter-tester.ab,ti. | ||
| 105. intratester.ab,ti. | ||
| 106. intra-tester.ab,ti. | ||
| 107. interobserver.ab,ti. | ||
| 108. inter-observer.ab,ti. | ||
| 109. intraobserver.ab,ti. | ||
| 110. intra-observer.ab,ti. | ||
| 111. intertechnician.ab,ti. | ||
| 112. intertechnician.ab,ti. | ||
| 113. intratechnician.ab,ti. | ||
| 114. intra-technician.ab,ti. | ||
| 115. interexaminer.ab,ti. | ||
| 116. inter-examiner.ab,ti. | ||
| 117. intraexaminer.ab,ti. | ||
| 118. intra-examiner.ab,ti. | ||
| 119. interassay.ab,ti. | ||
| 120. inter-assay.ab,ti. | ||
| 121. intraassay.ab,ti. | ||
| 122. intra-assay.ab,ti. | ||
| 123. inter-individual.ab,ti. | ||
| 124. interindividual.ab,ti. | ||
| 125. intraindividual.ab,ti. | ||
| 126. intra-individual.ab,ti. | ||
| 127. interparticipant.ab,ti. | ||
| 128. inter-participant.ab,ti. | ||
| 129. intraparticipant.ab,ti. | ||
| 130. intra-participant.ab,ti. | ||
| 131. kappa*.ab,ti. | ||
| 132. repeatab*.ab,ti. | ||
| 133. (replicab* or repeated).ab,ti. | ||
| 134. (measure* or finding* or result* or test*).ab,ti. | ||
| 135. 133 and 134 | ||
| 136. generaliza*.ab,ti. | ||
| 137. generalisa*.ab,ti. | ||
| 138. concordance.ab,ti. | ||
| 139. (intraclass or intra-class).ab,ti. | ||
| 140. correlation*.ab,ti. | ||
| 141. 139 and 140 | ||
| 142. discriminative.ab,ti. | ||
| 143. ‘known group’.ab,ti. | ||
| 144. ‘factor analysis’.ab,ti. | ||
| 145. factor analyses.ab,ti. | ||
| 146. dimension*.ab,ti. | ||
| 147. subscale*.ab,ti. | ||
| 148. (multitrait and scaling and (analysis or analyses)).ab,ti. | ||
| 149. item discriminant.ab,ti. | ||
| 150. inter-scale correlation*.ab,ti. | ||
| 151. interscale correlation*.ab,ti. | ||
| 152. error.ab,ti. | ||
| 153. errors.ab,ti. | ||
| 154. ‘individual variability’.ab,ti. | ||
| 155. (variability and (analysis or values)).ab,ti. | ||
| 156. (uncertainty and (measurement or measuring)).ab,ti. | ||
| 157. ‘standard error of measurement’.ab,ti. | ||
| 158. sensitiv*.ab,ti. | ||
| 159. responsive*.ab,ti. | ||
| 160. ((minimal or minimally or clinical or clinically) and (important or significant or detectable) and (change or difference)).ab,ti. | ||
| 161. (small* and (real or detectable) and (change or difference)).ab,ti. | ||
| 162. ‘meaningful change’.ab,ti. | ||
| 163. ‘ceiling effect’.ab,ti. | ||
| 164. ‘floor effect’.ab,ti. | ||
| 165. ‘item response model’.ab,ti. | ||
| 166. IRT.ab,ti. | ||
| 167. Rasch.ab,ti. | ||
| 168. ‘differential item functioning’.ab,ti. | ||
| 169. DIF.ab,ti. | ||
| 170. ‘computer adaptive testing’.ab,ti. | ||
| 171. ‘item bank’.ab,ti. | ||
| 172. ‘cross-cultural equivalence’.ab,ti. | ||
| 173. (‘gold standard’ or ‘criterion standard’ or ‘reference standard’).ab,ti. | ||
| 174. 59 or 60 or 61 or 62 or 63 or 64 or 65 or 66 or 67 or 68 or 69 or 70 or 71 or 72 or 73 or 74 or 75 or 76 or 77 or 78 or 79 or 80 or 83 or 86 or 87 or 88 or 89 or 90 or 91 or 94 or 98 or 99 or 100 or 101 or 102 or 103 or 104 or 105 or 106 or 107 or 108 or 109 or 110 or 111 or 112 or 113 or 114 or 115 or 116 or 117 or 118 or 119 or 120 or 121 or 122 or 123 or 124 or 125 or 126 or 127 or 128 or 129 or 130 or 131 or 132 or 135 or 136 or 137 or 138 or 141 or 142 or 143 or 144 or 145 or 146 or 147 or 148 or 149 or 150 or 151 or 152 or 153 or 154 or 155 or 156 or 157 or 158 or 159 or 160 or 161 or 162 or 163 or 164 or 165 or 166 or 167 or 168 or 169 or 170 or 172 or 173 | ||
| 175. 32 and 58 and 174 | ||
| 176. limit 175 to (addresses or autobiography or bibliography or biography or comment or congresses or directory or editorial or festschrift or interactive tutorial or interview or lectures or legal cases or legislation or letter or news or newspaper article or patient education handout or practice guideline or video-audio media or webcasts) | ||
| 177. 175 not 176 |
PFI, permanent functional impairment.