PMID- 37454099
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20230717
LR  - 20230718
IS  - 1477-7525 (Electronic)
IS  - 1477-7525 (Linking)
VI  - 21
IP  - 1
DP  - 2023 Jul 15
TI  - The anchor design of anchor-based method to determine the minimal clinically 
      important difference: a systematic review.
PG  - 74
LID - 10.1186/s12955-023-02157-3 [doi]
LID - 74
AB  - BACKGROUND: Positive results for clinical outcomes should be not only 
      statistically significant, but also clinically significant. The minimum 
      clinically important difference (MCID) is used to define the minimum threshold of 
      clinical significance. The anchor-based method is a classical method for 
      ascertaining MCID. This study aimed to summarise the design of the anchors of the 
      anchor-based method by reviewing the existing research and providing references 
      and suggestions. METHOD: This study was mainly based on literature research. We 
      performed a systematic search using Web of Science, PubMed, CNKI, Wanfang, and 
      VIP databases. Two reviewers independently screened titles and abstracts to 
      identify relevant articles. Data were extracted from eligible articles using a 
      predefined data collection form. Discrepancies were resolved by discussion and 
      the involvement of a third reviewer. RESULT: Three hundred and forty articles 
      were retained for final analysis. For the design of anchors, Subjective anchors 
      (99.12%) were the most common type of anchor used, mainly the Patient's rating of 
      change or patient satisfaction (66.47%) and related scale health status 
      evaluation items or scores (39.41%). Almost half of the studies (48.53%) did not 
      assess the correlation test between the anchor and the research indicator or 
      scale. The cut-off values and grouping were usually based on the choice of the 
      anchor types. In addition, due to the large number of included studies, this 
      study selected the most calculated SF-36 (28 articles) for an in-depth analysis. 
      The results showed that the overall design of the anchor and the cut-off value 
      were the same as above. The statistical methods used were mostly traditional 
      (mean change, ROC). The MCID thresholds of these studies had a wide range (SF-36 
      PCS: 2-17.4, SF-36 MCS: 1.46-10.28), and different anchors or statistical methods 
      lead to different results. CONCLUSION: It is of great importance to select 
      several types of anchors and to use more reliable statistical methods to 
      calculate the MCID. It is suggested that the order of selection of anchors should 
      be: objective anchors > anchors with established MCID in subjective anchors 
      (specific scale > generic scale) > ranked anchors in subjective anchors. The 
      selection of internal anchors should be avoided, and anchors should be evaluated 
      by a correlation test.
CI  - (c) 2023. The Author(s).
FAU - Zhang, Yu
AU  - Zhang Y
AD  - China Pharmaceutical University, No. 639, Longmian Avenue, Jiangning District, 
      Nanjing, 211198, Jiangsu Province, China.
FAU - Xi, Xiaoyu
AU  - Xi X
AD  - China Pharmaceutical University, No. 639, Longmian Avenue, Jiangning District, 
      Nanjing, 211198, Jiangsu Province, China.
FAU - Huang, Yuankai
AU  - Huang Y
AD  - China Pharmaceutical University, No. 639, Longmian Avenue, Jiangning District, 
      Nanjing, 211198, Jiangsu Province, China. hyk@cpu.edu.cn.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Review
PT  - Systematic Review
DEP - 20230715
PL  - England
TA  - Health Qual Life Outcomes
JT  - Health and quality of life outcomes
JID - 101153626
SB  - IM
MH  - Humans
MH  - Treatment Outcome
MH  - *Minimal Clinically Important Difference
MH  - *Quality of Life
MH  - Patient Satisfaction
MH  - Health Status
PMC - PMC10350268
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Anchor-based method
OT  - Minimal clinically important difference
OT  - Patient-reported Outcome
COIS- The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
EDAT- 2023/07/16 01:07
MHDA- 2023/07/17 06:42
PMCR- 2023/07/15
CRDT- 2023/07/15 23:18
PHST- 2023/02/10 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2023/06/29 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2023/07/17 06:42 [medline]
PHST- 2023/07/16 01:07 [pubmed]
PHST- 2023/07/15 23:18 [entrez]
PHST- 2023/07/15 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 10.1186/s12955-023-02157-3 [pii]
AID - 2157 [pii]
AID - 10.1186/s12955-023-02157-3 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2023 Jul 15;21(1):74. doi: 10.1186/s12955-023-02157-3.