Table 4.

Minimal important difference (MID) and change (MIC) scores for the EORTC QLQ-HN43 Swallowing Scale, derived by various approaches

	MID	MIC
		Deterioration (t1 to t2)	Improvement (t2 to 3)
Anchor-based	Mean difference of x at t2 in patients with KPS 60 vs. KPS 70 at t2	Mean delta in patients who say that their swallowing is “a little worse”	Mean delta in patients who say that their swallowing is “a little better”
	Discarded because of poor correlation	11	− 14
	Mean difference of x at t2 in patients with KPS 70 vs. KPS 80 at t2	ROC derived cut-point	ROC derived cut-point
	Discarded because of poor correlation	8	Discarded because of poor AUC
		Based on predictive regression modelling	Based on predictive regression modelling
		15	− 3
Distribution-based	0.5 SD of Swallowing at t2	0.5 SD of delta in Swallowing	0.5 SD of delta in Swallowing
	14	16	− 12
	0.3 SD of Swallowing at t2	0.5 SD of delta in Swallowing	0.5 SD of delta in Swallowing
	10	10	− 8
	SEM at t2	SEM of delta in Swallowing	SEM of delta in Swallowing
	11	12	− 10

SD standard deviation, SEM standard error of the mean, ROC receiver-operating characteristics, AUC area under the curve, t time, KPS Karnofsky Performance Score