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OBJECTIVES: To develop and evaluate a scale to quantify the presence and severity of symptoms arising from comorbid diseases in older people. DESIGN: A validation cohort study of hospital inpatients and outpatients aged 65 years and older. SETTING: A Hospital and community in Northeast England. PARTICIPANTS: Development of the Comorbidity Symptom Scale ‐ Convenience sample of 50 hospital inpatients and outpatients aged 65 years and older. Evaluation of the Comorbidity Symptom Scale ‐ Convenience sample of 183 patients aged 65 years and older either awaiting cataract surgery or attending a geriatric day hospital. MEASUREMENTS: For development of the Comorbidity Symptom Scale, 22 comorbid conditions were identified and incorporated into a questionnaire (the CmSS). Evaluation of the Comorbidity Symptom Scale ‐ Assessments included the CmSS, activities of daily living, perceived health status, and anxiety and depression. RESULTS: A 23‐item scale was developed. Reliability of the CmSS was demonstrated by a test‐retest correlation coefficient for the total instrument score of r = 0. 87 ( P < .001). The CmSS scores correlated with assessments of activities of daily living, perceived health status, and anxiety and depression. CONCLUSIONS: The CmSS is a simple interviewer‐administered tool for use in older people and provides an objective measure of the presence of comorbid disease and the patient's perception of severity of associated symptoms.
Crabtree et al. (Fri,) studied this question.