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© 2019 Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium, Inc. All rights reserved. 

1 Introduction

This document describes the CDISC implementation of the 

Exacerbations of Chronic Pulmonary Disease Tool (EXACT^®) - Patient-Reported Outcome  questionnaire.

CDISC does not modify questionnaires, ratings, and scales (QRS) instruments to meet Clinical Data Acquisition Standards Harmonization (CDASH) case report form (CRF) standards.

The representation of data collected for this questionnaire is based on the Study Data Tabulation Model Implementation Guide (SDTMIG) Questionnaires (QS) domain model, which can be found on the CDISC website at: https://www.cdisc.org/standards/foundational/sdtmig.

These specific implementation details for this questionnaire are meant to be used in conjunction with the SDTMIG. All CDISC QRS documentation packages can be found on the CDISC website at: https://www.cdisc.org/foundational/qrs.

The CDISC Intellectual Property Policy can be found on the CDISC website at: https://www.cdisc.org/about/bylaws.

1.1 Representations and Warranties, Limitations of Liability, and Disclaimers

This document is a supplement to the SDTMIG for Human Clinical Trials and is covered under Appendix F of that document, which describes representations, warranties, limitations of liability, and disclaimers. Please see Appendix F of the SDTMIG for a complete version of this material.

CDISC specifies how to structure the data that has been collected in a database, not what should be collected or how to conduct clinical assessments or protocols.

Although the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) has provided input with regard to this supplement, this input does not constitute US FDA endorsement of any particular instrument.

2 Copyright Status

For copyrighted instruments use the following text:  Name of copyright holder (e.g., Board of Regents of The University of Texas System) owns the copyright for the QRS Short_Name instrument and has granted CDISC permission to include this supplement in the CDISC library of QRS data standards supplements. (For supplements that are to be distributed by the copyright holder, add: Name of copyright holder (e.g., Board of Regents of The University of Texas System) will distribute the CDISC supplement package to sponsors when they are approved to use this instrument.) Hence, CDISC developed QSTESTCD and QSTEST for each item based on the actual text on the questionnaire. There may be many versions of this instrument in the public domain or copyrighted. CDISC has chosen to use this version as the data standard.

For public domain instruments use the following text:  This instrument is in the public domain. CDISC has included the QRS Short_Name in the CDISC library of QRS data standards supplements. Hence, CDISC developed QSTESTCD and QSTEST for each item based on the actual text on the questionnaire. There may be many versions of this instrument in the public domain or copyrighted. CDISC has chosen to use this version as the data standard.

The CDISC documentation of this instrument consists of: (1) controlled terminology, (2) standard database structure with examples, and (3) CRF(s) annotated with the CDISC SDTMIG variables with submission values (attach QRS instrument here). (Note: Most copyright approvals allow annotated case report forms; if this is the case with the current instrument, keep item #3 and just remove this note. If however, the copyright agreement does not allow for annotated case report forms, remove item #3 along with this note.)

Note: CDISC Controlled Terminology is maintained by National Cancer Institute (NCI) Enterprise Vocabulary Services (EVS). The most recent version should be accessed through the CDISC website at: https://www.cdisc.org/standards/terminology.

Reference for the Exacerbations of Chronic Pulmonary Disease Tool (EXACT^®) - Patient-Reported Outcome:

Rush, A.J., Carmody, T. and Reimitz, P.E. The Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (IDS): Clinician (IDS-C) and self-report (IDS-SR) ratings of depressive symptoms. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 9:45-59, 2000. 

3 The QS Domain Model

3.1 Assumptions for the QS Domain Model

All assumptions and business rules described in the SDTMIG QS domain are applicable to this supplement. Additional assumptions specific to the QRS Short_Name are listed below.

The QRS Short_Name is a multiple-choice questionnaire that clinicians may use to assess the severity of depressive symptoms. It consists of 30 items, each rated on a 4-point scale. A total score between 0-84 is also captured.

1. Include a description of scale score or other possible responses (You may need multiple numbered points for this, tho the IDS-SR did not.). For scale scores use the following language: The scale points include a numeric rating (0-3) and a definition of what is represented by the rating (e.g., 0 = "I never take longer than 30 minutes to fall asleep"). For the QRS Short_Name, QSORRES is populated with the text description while the numeric rating is represented in the standardized character and numeric result variables QSSTRESC and QSSTRESN.

2. Include a description of the evaluation interval if one exists. This may be numeric (QSEVLINT) or text (QSEVINTX). When the evaluation interval is provided in text and cannot be described in ISO 8601 format, use QSEVINTX instead of "QSEVLINT field in ISO 8601 format" and replace "the past 7 days" with the text (e.g., "DAYTIME'". Refer to SDTMIG Section 2.2.5 Timing Variables for All Classes. The evaluation interval needs to be clearly defined on the CRF. Remove this point if it does not apply.: The time period of evaluation for the QRS Short_Name is populated in the QSEVLINT field in ISO 8601 format (or QSEVINTX, as appropriate) when the evaluation interval can be precisely described as duration. The evaluation interval for the QRS Short_Name is the past 7 days (QSEVLINT = "-P7D").

3. If there are subcategories, include a note that subcategories will be represented in QSSCAT. Also provide a list of the subcategories unless one is already provided in the description preceding the assumptions. Remove this point if it does not apply.

4. If the instrument standards currently being developed includes logically skipped items, insert:  'Some items on the QRS Short_Name may be logically skipped per the instrument instructions. Language to be used for this assumption is currently under review.'

   This language is currently under review. Remove this point if it does not apply.:  Some items on the QRS Short_Name may be logically skipped per the instrument instructions.  Responses for logically skipped items should be (1) recorded and/or scored according to the instructions provided in the instrument’s user manual, scoring manual, or other documentation provided by the instrument developer and (2) included in the submission dataset. If such instructions are not available, then records for logically skipped items should be included in the submission dataset with:
   ·       QSSTAT = NOT DONE;
   ·       QSREASND = LOGICALLY SKIPPED ITEM; and
   ·       QSORRES, QSSTRESC, and QSSTRESN all set to null
   When submitting data to US FDA or some other regulatory authority to support regulatory review of a medical product, if the electronic data collection system is not capable of automatically populating records for logically skipped items, these records should be post-populated prior to submission and the sponsor will need to explain this in the corresponding reviewer's guide.

5. Include this point if score(s) are submitted to SDTM. Use the following language as stated if this point applies to the new instrument. Remove this point if it does not apply.: The QRS Short_Name instrument includes a total score (and other scores as needed.  If so, change "that is" to "that are") that is considered as captured data on the CRF and is not considered as derived in the example below.

   1. If operationally defined by the sponsor, it is the sponsor's responsibility to set the --DRVFL flag based on their eCRF process to derive subtotals and total scores. An investigator-derived score written on a CRF will be considered a captured score and not flagged. When subtotal and total scores are derived by the sponsor, the derived flag (--DRVFL) is set to Y. However, when the subtotal and total scores are received from a central provider or vendor, the value would go into --ORRES and --DRVFL would be null (see SDTMIG Section 4.1.8.1, Origin Metadata for Variables).

6. This language is currently under review. Evaluator information is only to be included when the information is collected directly on the CRF. Questionnaires will no longer be using QSEVAL/QSEVALID; however RSEVAL/RSEVALID and FTEVAL/FTEVALID will continue to be used on Clinical Classifications and Functional Tests. Language for Clinical Classifications and Functional tests follows; language for questionnaires is currently under review. Remove this point if it does not apply.

   For Clinical Classifications and Functional Tests (only when collected on the CRF):  The evaluator is stored in RSEVAL (FTEVAL). For QRS Short_Name, the evaluator is defined as the (the appropriate term from controlled terminology). Alternatively, if only evaluator name or initials could be collected: For QRS Short_Name, sponsors should follow their internal data management procedures on representing the name or initials of the evaluator. CDISC Controlled Terminology is available for Evaluator (e.g., --EVAL = "HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL") and Medical Evaluator (e.g., --EVALID = "RATER 1"). To reiterate, only include this point if the evaluator/administrator is collected directly on the CRF.

7. Include this point if there are comments at the end of the instrument. Remove this point if it does not apply.: Comments located at the end of the QRS Short_Name will be recorded in the Comments domain (CO). All assumptions and business rules described in the SDTMIG CO domain are applicable.

8. Include this point if there are responses over 200 characters. Remove this point if it does not apply: Some responses to the QRS Short_Name questions exceeded the 200-character limit for the QSORRES variable and needed to be reduced to fewer than 200 characters. Section 4, SDTM Mapping Strategy, indicates which question responses were revised in order to fit the 200-character limit.
   

9. Terminology

   1. QSCAT, QSTESTCD, and QSTEST (and other variables such as QSORRESU as needed) values are included in CDISC Controlled Terminology.

   2. A full list of value sets for the qualifier, timing, result, and unit fields is provided in Section 4, SDTM Mapping Strategy. (Note: Only the result field is always used. Include qualifier, timing, and unit fields as needed and remove this note.)

3.2 Example for the QRS Short_Name QS Domain Model

The QRS Short_Name example below shows the terminology used to implement the instrument in the QS domain. This example shows the data for 1 subject collected at the baseline visit for the QRS Short_Name instrument. The example uses CDISC Controlled Terminology for QSTESTCD, QSTEST, and QSCAT. All original results are represented with preferred terminology in QSORRES. This result is then transformed into the standard numeric score in QSSTRESN and a character representation of the standard numeric score in QSSTRESC.

The table represents the items from the QRS Short_Name form.

4 SDTM Mapping Strategy

This section is used for reference regarding the CRF data capture and to understand the alignment of the instrument to the SDTM QS domain. It also provides guidance on how the result variables (QSORRES, QSSTRESC, and QSSTRESN) should be populated.

5 Supplemental Qualifier Name Codes

The following table contains additional standard name codes for use in the Supplement Qualifiers for Questionnaires (SUPPQS) special purpose dataset.

End of Document