Table 1.
RECODE-DCM Definitionsa.
| Acronym | Definition | |
|---|---|---|
| DCM | Degenerative cervical myelopathy | — |
| MeSH | Medical Subject Heading | MEDLINE is a database of life science publications. MeSH are hierarchically organized terminology for indexing and cataloguing its contents, to facilitate search. |
| JLA | James Lind Alliance | http://www.jla.nihr.ac.uk/—A nonprofit initiative to support and oversee the establishment of healthcare research priorities. |
| PSP | Priority Setting Partnership | This process is carried out using a collaborative approach of relevant stakeholders referred to as a PSP. |
| OMERACT | Outcome Measures in Rheumatology | www.omeract.org—An initiative supporting the development of consensus in outcome measurement for arthritis. |
| COMET | Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness Trials | http://www.comet-initiative.org/—A UK based organization supporting the development of COS. |
| NINDS | National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke | www.commondataelements.ninds.nih.gov—NINDS is the neurological arm of the National Institute for Health, United States. They pioneered and continue to support CDEs for neurological disorders. |
| COS | Core Outcome Sets | A set of agreed outcome variables and their measures to be reported in clinical trials. |
| CDE | Common Data Elements | A set of agreed variables to be measured and reported in clinical trials |
| CMS | Core Measurement Set | A set of agreed tools used to measure outcomes or other data elements. |
| COSMIN | COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments | http://www.cosmin.nl/—The COSMIN initiative aims to improve the selection of health measurement instruments, by ensuring instruments have undergone appropriate evaluation. |
| GRADE | Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation | http://www.gradeworkinggroup.org/—A working group who developed a transparent approach to grading quality (or certainty) of evidence and strength of recommendations. |
| eDELPHI | Electronic DELPHI | An electronic system used to deliver the Delphi process over the internet. |
a This consensus field is rich with acronyms, often bearing close resemblance in sentiment but different precise meaning. This table lists the acronyms used in this protocol, including a summary (with link out resources where appropriate) of their meaning.