Health workers' agreement in clinical description of filarial lymphedema

Abstract

Severity of lymphedema and presence of entry lesions are risk factors for acute bacterial dermatolymphangioadenitis (ADLA) in those with filarial lymphedema. Recurrent ADLA causes acute morbidity and progression of lymphedema severity; however, there is little work assessing the ability of health workers to reliably stage disease severity and identify risk entry lesions. This knowledge is important in initiation of management and assessing interventions. We evaluated inter-rater reliability with two independent health workers rating both legs of 17 patients using a questionnaire and the Dreyer classification of lymphedema. The health workers could reliably stage lymphedema with high agreement (RMAC weighted kappa of 0.89) and identify nail, interdigital, and other skin lesions. However, there was less consistency in identifying the clinical nature of skin lesions. This indicates that the Dreyer classification can be a replicable way to stage lymphedema and a questionnaire can deliver high observer agreement on the presence of risk lesions. Copyright © 2006 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.