Skip to main content
NCBI home page
The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine logoLink to The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine
. 1982 Mar-Apr;55(2):81–88.

Assessment of observer variability in the classification of human cataracts.

D V Cicchetti, Y Sharma, E Cotlier
PMCID: PMC2596006  PMID: 7136008

Abstract

An in vitro cataract classification system was developed in our laboratories and used to demonstrate a relationship between sustained aspirin intake and the apparent deceleration or retardation of human cataract formation. The purpose of this investigation was to assess the reliability of this cataract classification schema. Sets of extracted human cataractous lenses, which had been photographed in vitro, were randomly assigned to five observers. The task was to classify the lenses on the basis of nuclear and cortical involvement, as reflected in color and area changes along five groupings. Assessments were made on the basis of both intraobserver and interobserver agreement levels, corrected for chance (weighted kappa values). All five examiners evidenced levels of intraobserver agreement which ranged between "Good" and "Fair" and "Excellent" (.46-.83). Each of the five observers was ranked on the basis of his agreement levels with the remaining four observers. The results followed a predictable pattern such that the more experienced the observer in classifying cataracts, the more consistent his rankings vis-à-vis the remaining four evaluators. These results are discussed in the general context of observer variability studies in the field of medicine.

Full text

PDF
81

Images in this article

84FIG. 1
on p.84

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Chylack L. T., Jr Classification of human cataracts. Arch Ophthalmol. 1978 May;96(5):888–892. doi: 10.1001/archopht.1978.03910050490021. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Cicchetti D. V. Assessing inter-rater reliability for rating scales: resolving some basic issues. Br J Psychiatry. 1976 Nov;129:452–456. doi: 10.1192/bjp.129.5.452. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Cicchetti D. V., Conn H. O. A statistical analysis of reviewer agreement and bias in evaluating medical abstracts. Yale J Biol Med. 1976 Sep;49(4):373–383. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Cicchetti D. V., Sparrow S. A. Developing criteria for establishing interrater reliability of specific items: applications to assessment of adaptive behavior. Am J Ment Defic. 1981 Sep;86(2):127–137. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Cotlier E. Senile cataracts: evidence for acceleration by diabetes and deceleration by salicylate. Can J Ophthalmol. 1981 Jul;16(3):113–118. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. DORN H. F. Some problems arising in prospective and retrospective studies of the etiology of disease. N Engl J Med. 1959 Sep 17;261:571–579. doi: 10.1056/NEJM195909172611201. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. ETTER L. E., DUNN J. P., KAMMER A. G., OSMOND L. H., REESE L. C. Gastroduodenal x-ray diagnosis: a comparison of radiographic technics and interpretations. Radiology. 1960 May;74:766–770. doi: 10.1148/74.5.766. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hall J. N. Inter-rater reliability of ward rating scales. Br J Psychiatry. 1974 Sep;125(0):248–255. doi: 10.1192/bjp.125.3.248. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kahn H. A., Leibowitz H. M., Ganley J. P., Kini M. M., Colton T., Nickerson R. S., Dawber T. R. The Framingham Eye Study. I. Outline and major prevalence findings. Am J Epidemiol. 1977 Jul;106(1):17–32. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a112428. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Kahn H. A. Quality assurance of clinical data: diagnostic standardization. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 1979 May;25(5 Pt 2):703–711. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Koran L. M. The reliability of clinical methods, data and judgments (first of two parts). N Engl J Med. 1975 Sep 25;293(13):642–646. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197509252931307. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Koran L. M. The reliability of clinical methods, data and judgments (second of two parts). N Engl J Med. 1975 Oct 2;293(14):695–701. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197510022931405. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Landis J. R., Koch G. G. The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics. 1977 Mar;33(1):159–174. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Marcantonio J. M., Duncan G., Davies P. D., Bushell A. R. Classification of human senile cataracts by nuclear colour and sodium content. Exp Eye Res. 1980 Aug;31(2):227–237. doi: 10.1016/0014-4835(80)90080-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Pirie A. Color and solubility of the proteins of human cataracts. Invest Ophthalmol. 1968 Dec;7(6):634–650. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Smith V. C., Pokorny J., Starr S. J. Variability of color mixture data - I. Interobserver variability in the unit coordinates. Vision Res. 1976;16(10):1087–1094. doi: 10.1016/0042-6989(76)90247-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine are provided here courtesy of Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine

RESOURCES