PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

R Padua

Publications and source records attributed to R Padua.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Quality of life, clinical and neurophysiological picture in patients operated on for lumbar stenosis.

BACKGROUND: In lumbar stenosis (LS) patients, clinical, neuroradiological and neurophysiological findings were not related to validated measurements of the outcomes that are more relevant to patients such as functional status and symptoms. METHOD: We have retrospectively studied 30 patients surgically treated for LS. We have evaluated the patients by means of self-administered questionnaires (SF-36), clinical examination, and neuroradiological and neurophysiological measurements and we have registered preoperative and follow-up clinical and neurophysiological findings. Finally we evaluated the relations between patient-oriented data and validated conventional clinical and neurophysiological measurements. FINDINGS: The comparison between pre- and post-operative clinical picture showed an improvement of most parameters tested. The comparison between pre- and post-operative neurophysiological picture revealed worsening of most tested parameters. The comparison between the current sample and the Italian normative data for the SF-36 showed a worsening of physical aspects of health related quality of life; conversely there was an improvement of some mental domains. CONCLUSIONS: In our sample of LS patients the most compromised SF-36 domain was Role-Physical that measures the difficulty in every-day activities due to physical problems. Conversely, the clinical findings showed a significant improvement after surgery: patients reported in particular lower sciatica after surgical treatment, but the neurophysiological evaluation did not show any improvement.

Aged↗
PubMed2004

Back pain in pregnancy: 1-year follow-up of untreated cases.

Back Pain (BP) is one of the most frequent symptoms during the last period of pregnancy, and high incidence has been described in several studies. Until now no wide, multicenter and prospective clinical studies on the natural course of BP after pregnancy have been available. We performed a multicenter follow-up study in a sample of pregnant women using the Italian validated version of the Roland questionnaire to assess the evolution of BP after pregnancy and identify prognostic factors. Each center had to re-evaluate at least 75% of the initially enrolled women, with latency of 1 year after delivery. At the follow-up, we acquired substantial clinical data concerning the post-delivery period. The evaluation of symptom evolution was based on the Roland questionnaire. At follow-up, 53% of re-evaluated women had no BP symptoms. Moreover, there was a significant improvement of patient-oriented assessment in women who suffered BP after delivery. With regard to the predictive factors, the presence of BP before pregnancy implied a 3.1-fold higher probability of improvement after delivery. In conclusion, women without history of BP before pregnancy and who complain of these symptoms during pregnancy require greater attention, because they have a lower possibility for improvement. Conversely, in women with a history of BP, pregnancy represents a transient period of worsening symptoms, probably due to the temporary para-physiological mechanical condition.

Back Pain↗
PubMed2003

The Italian version of the Oxford 12-item Knee Questionnaire-cross-cultural adaptation and validation.

Questionnaires must be translated and adapted to suit the cultural characteristics of different countries with different languages; they then need to be validated using a standard process. This was done for the Italian version of the Oxford Knee Questionnaire (OKQ), and its reliability and validity were assessed in a cross-sectional study of 50 consecutive patients referred for gonarthrosis and whose knees were replaced. A "subsample" of 20 patients was assessed prospectively to confirm the reliability of the Italian version, and these results were then compared with other clinical studies. The Italian OKQ scale correlated well with other clinical studies and also showed good results with regard to reproducibility, consistency, and validity when compared to the other published versions of the OKQ.

Aged↗
PubMed2003

Italian version of the Disability of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) questionnaire. Cross-cultural adaptation and validation.

An Italian version of the Disability of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) questionnaire has been devised and its reliability and validity have been assessed in a cross-sectional study of 108 consecutive patients with upper extremity pathologies. A sub-sample of 30 patients was used to assess re-test reliability. The principal DASH scale showed a high correlation with other patient-oriented measures and demonstrated good reproducibility, consistency and validity, which were similar to those for other languages' versions of DASH. These findings suggest that the evaluation capacities of the Italian DASH are equivalent to those of other language versions of the DASH.

Arm↗
PubMed2002

Patient-oriented assessment of back pain in pregnancy.

Back pain is a common symptom in women during the last period of pregnancy. Only a few studies using validated patient-oriented tools have been undertaken on this topic. We report on a multicenter study on back pain in women during the last period of pregnancy, which involved seven Italian institutions. Seventy-six women in their 8th and 9th months were studied using the Italian validated version of the Roland questionnaire -- a disease-specific patient-oriented tool for low back pain. Sixty-two percent of the women had gone through at least one previous pregnancy, and clinical data concerning both the period before all pregnancies and the period before the current pregnancy were acquired. The study found that 31% of the women had no back pain symptoms (Roland score 0), 40% scored from 1 to 4, 21% scored from 5 to 10, and 8% scored more than 10. With regard to the predictive factor, history of back pain and sciatica before the pregnancy were found to be associated with occurrence of back pain symptoms during pregnancy. Unexpectedly, our results showed that male sex of the fetus seems to be related to occurrence of back pain symptoms during pregnancy. However, back pain was not associated with having gone through previous pregnancies, nor was the Roland score related to the weight before pregnancy or to increment of weight during pregnancy. Evaluation of the patient's perspective made it possible to identify predictive factors for occurrence of back pain, thereby furnishing important information for the clinical approach to pregnancy.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Myasthenia gravis outcome measure: development and validation of a disease-specific self-administered questionnaire.

We describe the development and validation of an outcome measure for patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) and show the correlation of the items with conventional MG measurements. In stage I, item generation, a group of methodologists, clinical experts generated a list of 56 items. The list was based on (1) a previous study on an MG sample, (2) clinical experience and (3) items proposed by MG patients. In stage 2, reduction of items, the list was reduced on the basis of results from field testing (41 patients completed the 56-item questionnaire). In stage 3, reliability and validity were assessed. A 25-item MG questionnaire (MGQ) was generated. Results were related to conventional measures of MG severity. Furthermore, the MGQ appeared reliable, sensitive and reproducible. The questionnaire was validated as an outcome measure.

Humans↗
PubMed2002

A new clinical scale of carpal tunnel syndrome: validation of the measurement and clinical-neurophysiological assessment.

OBJECTIVE: To validate a new clinical scale of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). The scale is based on clinical history and physical examination findings and includes two figures. The first is a score determined by clinical history and objective findings. The second evaluates the presence/absence of pain as a dichotomous categorical score. METHODS: One hundred and sixty-eight consecutive idiopathic CTS hands were studied in two centers (Rome, Siena). We compare the results of the historical-objective scale (Hi-Ob scale) with the results of other validated measurements of CTS severity: (1) the Italian version of the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire, (2) the neurophysiological classification adopted by the Italian CTS study group. Furthermore, for the Hi-Ob scale the intra-observer and inter-observer evaluations were assessed. RESULTS: The main Hi-Ob parameter was positively related to the conventional validated measurements. Conversely, the category 'PAIN' of the Hi-Ob scale appeared unrelated to the other clinical and electrophysiological parameters. Intra- and inter-observer evaluation showed the reproducibility of the Hi-Ob assessment. CONCLUSIONS: Our data show that the Hi-Ob scale is a reliable measurement which may be useful in CTS evaluation either for clinical or for scientific purposes.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Lower limb nerve impairment in diabetic patients: multiperspective assessment.

To assess the relationship between patient's perception of his own inferior limbs symptom and function and the clinical-neurophysiological assessment in patients affected by insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). We studied 50 consecutive outpatients affected by IDDM (23 men, 27 women). We used validated measurements clinical [Semmes-Weinstein (SW), vibration perception threshold (VPT), muscle strength, osteotendineous reflexes, etc.], neurophysiological (sural, peroneal nerves), metabolic and patient-oriented [North American Spine Society (NASS) questionnaire]. Patient-oriented scores were significantly related with neurophysiological findings of the inferior limbs. Our data suggest that electrodiagnostic tests are useful to assess the severity of the diabetic polyneuropathy not only because they provide a biological measurement of the nerve function but also because they appeared related to the patient's quality of life related to the peripheral nerve involvement.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Cross-cultural adaptation of the lumbar North American Spine Society questionnaire for Italian-speaking patients with lumbar spinal disease.

STUDY DESIGN: A cross-cultural adaptation and cross-sectional study of a sample of lumbar spine patients, with a subsample followed prospectively for retest reliability. OBJECTIVES: To assess the Italian version instrument reliability and validity. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: The orthopaedic outcome measurements have been usually focused on objective parameters as radiograph measures or other technical aspects. However, these parameters are weakly related with outcomes that are more relevant to patients as functional status and symptoms. In the last ten years, the patient-oriented measures have become an important aspect of spinal clinical outcome evaluation. The most common instruments to assess patient perspective are self-administered questionnaires that must be validated by a widely accepted process to evaluate reliability and validity, which are fundamental for every instrumental measure. METHODS: The North American Spine Society (NASS) questionnaire was culturally adapted for Italian-speaking people following the Guillemin criteria. The Italian version was tested on 74 consecutive patients who were referred to the authors' department and suffered from low back pain with leg irradiation. The results were compared with other validated patient-oriented measures. Forty-eight-hour retests were performed on a subsample of 45 patients. RESULTS: The questionnaire was favorably accepted by patients. The lumbar spine pain and disability and neurogenic symptoms subscales showed a high correlation with other patient-oriented measures, as hypothesized, and it also showed good values on test-retest. CONCLUSIONS: The questionnaire should be considered for patient health status monitoring and for clinical trials.

Cross-Cultural Comparison↗
PubMed2001

Italian version of the Roland Disability Questionnaire, specific for low back pain: cross-cultural adaptation and validation.

Over the last 10 years, patient-oriented evaluations using questionnaires have become an important aspect of clinical spinal outcome studies. Any questionnaire must be translated and culturally adapted in order to be used with different language groups, and the translated version must then be evaluated for reliability and validity, which are fundamental attributes of any measurement tool. The Roland Disability Questionnaire, a low back pain disease-specific tool, was submitted to translation into Italian and to cross-cultural adaptation following the Guillemin criteria. It was then validated on 70 patients (37 male and 33 female; mean age 58, range: 28-67) suffering from low back pain as assessed by clinical examination, imaging and also electromyography in cases of suspected neurological impairment. The test-retest reliability, assessed with intraclass correlation, was 0.92 and the internal consistency reached a Cronbach's alpha of 0.82. The Italian version of the Roland Disability Questionnaire satisfied the validation criteria, showing characteristics of reliability and validity similar to previously published versions translated and adapted for other countries.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Multiperspective follow-up of untreated carpal tunnel syndrome: a multicenter study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the course of untreated carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). METHODS: The Italian CTS Study Group prospectively followed up (10 to 15 months) 196 untreated patients (274 hands) with idiopathic CTS with multiple measurements of CTS. Baseline factors were used to predict the evolution of untreated CTS in multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: Comparison of baseline and follow-up data showed a significant spontaneous improvement of patient-oriented and neurophysiologic measurements. A significant correlation between evolution and initial severity of CTS was observed. CTS measurements improved in patients with more severe initial impairment whereas they worsened in patients with milder initial impairment. The main positive prognostic factor was short duration of symptoms. Similarly, spontaneous improvement was more frequently associated with young age. Conversely, baseline bilateral symptoms and positive Phalen predicted a poor prognosis. CONCLUSIONS: Some patients with CTS improve spontaneously without surgical treatment.

Adult↗