EVALUATION ON DIFFERENT ASSESSMENT METHODS OF CONSISTENCY OF QUANTITATIVE MEASUREMENTS
LI Xiao-son · Xiandai yufang yixue · 2007
[Objective]To evaluate different assessment methods of consistency of quantitative measurements.[Methods]The paired t test,simple correlation analysis,intra-class correlation analysis and Bland-Altman method were adopted to evaluate the consistency of a true example with good consistency in fact and three hypothetical situations developed from the true one.[Results]As to consistency assessment of the true example,simple correlation analysis,intra-class correlation analysis,and Bland-Altman method showed good consistency,except for paired t test.In the situation of obvious systematic bias,intra-class correlation analysis,paired t test and Bland-Altman method showed that the data were not reliable,whereas the Pearson correlation suggested that the data were highly reliable.In the situation of comparatively large random error where low consistency was expected,intra-class correlation analysis,simple correlation analysis and Bland-Altman method accurately illustrated this,while paired t test suggested good consistency.In the situation of low range of measurements where both systematic bias and random error were small,paired t test and Bland-Altman method suggested good consistency,but intra-class correlation analysis and simple correlation analysis failed to demonstrate that.[Conclusions]Both paired t test and simple correlation analysis have defects in assessing consistency,but intra-class correlation analysis and Bland-Altman method are the preferable techniques to evaluate the consistency of quantitative measurements although there are some limitations associated with the use of these techniques.