Development and validation of a clinical guideline for diagnosing blepharospasm.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To design and validate a clinical diagnostic guideline for aiding physicians in confirming or refuting suspected blepharospasm.

Methods

The guideline was developed and validated in a 3-step procedure: 1) identification of clinical items related to the phenomenology of blepharospasm, 2) assessment of the relevance of each item to the diagnosis of blepharospasm, and 3) evaluation of the reliability and diagnostic sensitivity/specificity of the selected clinical items.

Results

Of 19 clinical items initially identified, 7 were admitted by content validity analysis to further assessment. Both neurologists and ophthalmologists achieved satisfactory interobserver agreement for all 7 items, including "involuntary eyelid narrowing/closure due to orbicularis oculi spa

SUBMITTER: Defazio G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3770163 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature