Background: In 2009, the World Health Organization revised the Dengue Fever guidelines to more accurately identify patients at risk of developing severe dengue. Despite these guidelines, early diagnosis of severe dengue remains challenging for clinicians. Several scoring systems have been developed to identify patients at highest risk for severe dengue however; these studies have a study population limited to children and did not include adult patients. Objective: The purpose of this study is to validate the Simple Clinical Risk Score in predicting who will develop severe Dengue among adult patients with Dengue fever. Methods: This is a prospective cohort, single-center, observational study conducted at Silliman University Medical Center from August 2019 to August 2020. A total of 481 laboratory confirmed dengue patients were included and categorized into two models based on the day of illness. Each model used a clinical risk score of 1 point as a cut-off for predicting severe Dengue. Validation was done using the risk-odds ratio and substantiated by the odds ratio, signifying that there is more likely greater association between dengue patients to develop severe dengue. Results: In model 1, a total of 339 patients were analyzed with 6 patients who achieved a score of 1 developed severe Dengue. In model 2, a total of 142 patients were analyzed and 3 patients who achieved a score of 1 developed severe dengue. Conclusion The simple clinical risk score can assist clinicians in deciding and stratifying dengue patients who need hospitalization not only in resource-limited areas but also during this height of the pandemic. While the findings had a lesser number of participants, it still remained context-specific and is able to demonstrate a predictive ability for severe disease, thereby optimizing informed decisions for hospital admissions in settings with limited laboratory resources.
Validation Study

Objective: Musculoskeletal ultrasound has gained recognition in early identification of crystal deposits in the joints and soft tissues. This study aims to validate the sonographic features of 1st metatarsophalangeal joints (MTPJs) in gout and asymptomatic hyperuricemia (AH). Methods Patients with gout (n=20) and AH (n=16) underwent a gray-scale ultrasound assessment of both 1st MTPJs on 3 positions (dorsal, medial, plantar) in longitudinal view. The static images were read by 2 blinded trained sonologists for the presence of double contour sign (DCS), erosions, and tophi.
Gout ; Validation Study

Objective: This study aims to determine the convergent and discriminant validity and internal consistent reliability of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) Tagalog among adult Filipinos with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). Methodology: 104 adult Filipinos with DTC at various disease stages self-administered the EORTC QLQ-C30 version 3 Tagalog and Short Form-36 (SF-36) version 2 Tagalog. Concurrent validity between conceptually-related scales from both tools was determined. Convergent and discriminant validity of multi-item scales of the EORTC QLQ-C30 Tagalog were assessed by Spearman’s correlation. Cronbach's α was computed. Results: The EORTC QLQ-C30 Tagalog showed moderate correlation with similar scales in the SF-36 Tagalog particulary for physical, role and social functioning, pain, and global health (r=0.42-0.48, p<0.001). It showed satisfactory item-domain convergent and discriminant validity for all scales except pain, fatigue, physical and cognitive functioning. Internal consistent reliability was good with cronbachs α ranging from 0.77 to 0.88 for global health, emotional and role functioning and symptom scale of nausea/vomiting. Conclusion The EORTC QLQ-C30 Tagalog had acceptable convergent and discriminant validity and internal consistent reliability for the scales of global health, role, social and emotional functioning and nausea/vomiting when applied among adult Filipinos with DTC.
Thyroid Neoplasms ; Quality of Life ; Validation Study