Table 1.

Project Plan

Phase 1: Development and validation
Stages
1. Agreement of the research methodologies that could be developed for international use in complex health care systems
2. Literature review of prevalence study methods and epidemiology
3. Development of questionnaires for the core and module specialist tools
4. Development and validation of a classification for chronic edema
5. Interrater reliability studies (pitting test and classification of chronic edema in different populations)
6. Construction and testing of the online database
7. Development of an international protocol and sampling frameworks
8. Development of a support manual and educational tools
9. Establishment of quality control mechanisms

Phase 2: Main study
Stages
1. Epidemiology studies undertaken in all participating sites
2. Data quality monitoring
3. Data analysis and reporting