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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Nov 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Clin Epidemiol. 2010 Aug 4;63(11):1179–1194. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2010.04.011

Table 2.

PROMIS Item Bank Standard Error and Alpha Reliability by T-scores

Item Bank N T-Scores
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Emotional Distress - Anger 856 SE 0.93 0.76 0.45 0.23 0.17 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.26
Reliability 0.13 0.43 0.80 0.95 0.97 0.98 0.98 0.97 0.93
Emotional Distress – Anxiety 788 SE 0.98 0.90 0.62 0.26 0.14 0.13 0.13 0.15 0.33
Reliability 0.04 0.19 0.62 0.93 0.98 0.98 0.98 0.98 0.89
Emotional Distress – Depression 782 SE 1.00 0.97 0.73 0.27 0.13 0.11 0.12 0.16 0.45
Reliability 0.01 0.06 0.47 0.92 0.98 0.99 0.99 0.97 0.80
Fatigue 781 SE 0.86 0.58 0.23 0.09 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.11 0.31
Reliability 0.27 0.66 0.95 0.99 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.99 0.91
Pain Behavior 820 SE 1.00 0.96 0.51 0.11 0.10 0.08 0.08 0.21 0.78
Reliability 0.00 0.08 0.74 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.96 0.40
Pain Interference 844 SE 1.00 1.00 0.94 0.48 0.10 0.07 0.07 0.19 0.58
Reliability 0.00 0.01 0.11 0.77 0.99 1.00 0.99 0.97 0.66
Physical Function 1700 SE 0.13 0.07 0.06 0.06 0.09 0.21 0.41 0.68 0.93
Reliability 0.98 0.99 1.00 1.00 0.99 0.96 0.83 0.54 0.14
Satisfaction with Participation in Discretionary Social Activities 814 SE 0.99 0.83 0.30 0.14 0.14 0.16 0.58 0.97 1.00
Reliability 0.02 0.32 0.91 0.98 0.98 0.97 0.67 0.06 0.00
Satisfaction with Participation in Social Roles 816 SE 0.98 0.73 0.21 0.13 0.14 0.18 0.66 0.98 1.00
Reliability 0.03 0.47 0.96 0.98 0.98 0.97 0.57 0.04 0.00
Sleep Disturbance 2252 SE 0.91 0.68 0.34 0.20 0.16 0.16 0.17 0.28 0.49
Reliability 0.16 0.54 0.88 0.96 0.97 0.98 0.97 0.92 0.76
Sleep-related Impairment 2252 SE 0.91 0.68 0.41 0.31 0.18 0.17 0.17 0.29 0.63
Reliability 0.17 0.53 0.84 0.91 0.97 0.97 0.97 0.92 0.61

Higher scores indicate more of that domain. Therefore, high scores for anger, anxiety, depression, fatigue, pain behavior, pain interference, sleep disturbance and sleep-related impairment indicate worse functioning or more symptoms. High scores for physical function, satisfaction with participation in discretionary social activities, and satisfaction with participation in social roles indicate better functioning or more satisfaction. A T-Score distribution has a mean of 50 and standard deviation of 10. A 50 score here is the mean of the US general population based upon 2000 census data (see Liu et al, this issue).

Sample size (N) refers to the number of people who completed full bank testing from wave one (see Figure 2)