Objective To explore the consistency among different indices of abdominal ultrasonography for the diagnosis of schistosomiasis japonica-related morbidity and the best combination of the indices. Methods Six indices of abdominal ultrasonography were selected to investigate schistosomiasis-related morbidity in residents in a village of Hunan Province, and the Kappa coefficients of diagnostic consistency among different indices and Cronbach's alpha coefficients of different combinations of indices were computed. Results The Kappa coefficients of 'liver parenchyma≥gradeⅡ' with 'right midclavicular subcostal' and with 'portal vein diameter' were 0^4131 and 0^4655 respectively, higher than normal level. The degree of their consistency was fair, and others showed poor or almost no consistency. Among the combinations made up of different indices, the Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the combination made up of 'liver parenchyma≥gradeⅡ', 'right midclavicular subcostal' and 'portal vein diameter' was 0^6566 which was the highest, showing the strongest internal consistency. Conclusion The six indices can not be replaced with each other in assessing schistosomiasis-related morbidity. Before abdominal ultrasonography is used extensively to assess the morbidity, it is necessary to study the diagnostic consistency of these indices and the best combination of the indices.

Objective To evaluate the reliability and validity of SF-36 in patients with advanced schistosomiasis,so as to proride scientific basis for the selection of suitable tools for health measure.Methods A Chinese version of SF-36 scale was applied to evaluate the health of patients with advanced schistosomiasis by a household survey in Hanshou County of Hunan Province and Jiangling County of Hubei Province,then the reliability and validity of the scale were tested.Results Atotal of 326 patients were investigated in the two counties.The split-half reliability(with a split-half coefficient of 0.95) and the internal consistency (Cronbach'α coefficients of the eight dimensions ranged from 0.86 to 0.88)were satisfying;the convergent and discriminative validity were high with the test successful rates of 97.14%and 87.86%,respectively;the criterion validity was acceptable with a correlation coefficient between the total score of SF-36 and EQ-5D+C VAS score of 0.70.However,the construct validity seemed to be not so reasonable as only 2 dimensions out of 8 were completely in accordance with the theoretical model on factor loading.The percentages of floor effect and ceiling effect in most dimensions were not significant except RP and RE(with the percentages of floor effect of 50.31%and 48.16%,respectively).Conclusions SF-36 is appropriate to be used in patients with advanced schistosomiasis.but some items need to be improved according to the local settings of endemic areas.