Objective To test the reliability of the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology Giant cell arteritis (GCA) Ultrasonography Score (OGUS) and other composite scores in a patient-based exercise involving experts and non-experts in vascular ultrasonography. Methods Six GCA patients were scanned twice (two rounds separated ≥3 hours) by 12 experts and 12 non-experts. Non-experts received 90 min of theoretical and 240 min of practical training between rounds 1 and 2. Ultrasonography was conducted on temporal arteries (common superficial, frontal and parietal branches) and axillary arteries bilaterally to calculate the OGUS, the Southend score and the Halo count. Inter-reader and intra-reader reliability were assessed by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results Mean age of GCA patients was 78±5.1 years, 2 (33.3%) were women, and all were in clinical remission. Expert inter-reader ICC of the OGUS was 0.60 in both rounds, 0.40 in round 1 and 0.51 in round 2 for the Southend score and 0.45 and 0.52, respectively, for the Halo count. Median ICCs for intra-reader reliability were 0.86, 0.73 and 0.65 for the OGUS, Southend score and Halo count, respectively. For non-experts, inter-reader ICCs in round 1 were 0.20 for the OGUS, 0.20 for a normalised Southend score (=score divided by available segments) and 0.35 for a normalised Halo count. After training, inter-reader reliability ICCs improved to 0.52, 0.29 and 0.54, respectively. Conclusion Inter-reader reliability was fair to moderate, and intra-reader reliability was good for OGUS, Southend score and Halo count among experts. Inter-reader reliability of non-experts in vascular ultrasonography improved after the training.
Duftner, C., Redlinger, N., Bruyn, G. A., Chadachan, V., Chrysidis, S., Correyero, M., D'Agostino, M. A., Dalsgaard Nielsen, B., Dasgupta, B., De Miguel, E., Diamantopoulos, A. P., Fulvio, G., Gkikopoulos, N., Hartung, W., Hocevar, A., Keen, H., Kurteva, V., Mandl, P., Manger, E., Mercatelli, P., Midtgard, I., Monti, S., Muller, R., Mykkänen, K., Pineda, C., Ponte, C., Reffat, D., Sarbu, A., Seitz, L., Terslev, L., Schmidt, W., Dejaco, C., Reliability of the OMERACT Giant cell arteritis Ultrasonography Score (OGUS): results of a patient-based exercise involving experts and non-experts in vascular ultrasonography, <<RMD OPEN>>, 2025; 11 (1): N/A-N/A. [doi:10.1136/rmdopen-2024-004667] [https://hdl.handle.net/10807/309041]
Reliability of the OMERACT Giant cell arteritis Ultrasonography Score (OGUS): results of a patient-based exercise involving experts and non-experts in vascular ultrasonography
D'Agostino, Maria Antonietta;Dejaco, Christian
2025
Abstract
Objective To test the reliability of the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology Giant cell arteritis (GCA) Ultrasonography Score (OGUS) and other composite scores in a patient-based exercise involving experts and non-experts in vascular ultrasonography. Methods Six GCA patients were scanned twice (two rounds separated ≥3 hours) by 12 experts and 12 non-experts. Non-experts received 90 min of theoretical and 240 min of practical training between rounds 1 and 2. Ultrasonography was conducted on temporal arteries (common superficial, frontal and parietal branches) and axillary arteries bilaterally to calculate the OGUS, the Southend score and the Halo count. Inter-reader and intra-reader reliability were assessed by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results Mean age of GCA patients was 78±5.1 years, 2 (33.3%) were women, and all were in clinical remission. Expert inter-reader ICC of the OGUS was 0.60 in both rounds, 0.40 in round 1 and 0.51 in round 2 for the Southend score and 0.45 and 0.52, respectively, for the Halo count. Median ICCs for intra-reader reliability were 0.86, 0.73 and 0.65 for the OGUS, Southend score and Halo count, respectively. For non-experts, inter-reader ICCs in round 1 were 0.20 for the OGUS, 0.20 for a normalised Southend score (=score divided by available segments) and 0.35 for a normalised Halo count. After training, inter-reader reliability ICCs improved to 0.52, 0.29 and 0.54, respectively. Conclusion Inter-reader reliability was fair to moderate, and intra-reader reliability was good for OGUS, Southend score and Halo count among experts. Inter-reader reliability of non-experts in vascular ultrasonography improved after the training.
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