Table 3 describes the grouping and numbers of participants, while the differences between the assessment criteria between groups is described in Table 4 below.
Because the HVDC model in PSCAD/EMTDC is different from that in the proposed assessment method, and temporal discreteness is not considered in PSCAD/EMTDC simulations, the differences between the assessment results are reasonable.
Two-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used with the PEEP level as the within subject factor and the lung volume assessment method as the between subject factor to establish the differences between the assessment methods and PEEP.
For 9 out of the 15 QOL domains covered by the QLQ-C30 the differences between the assessment at the day of CT and one week later exceeded the threshold for a minimal important clinical change [ 11], with strongest increase in burden found for Fatigue, Constipation, and Appetite Loss.
Various factors influence the extent of agreement or difference between the assessments of parents and children, they differ depending on the direction of the deviation and they affect different dimensions of the quality of life [ 11, 13, 15].
Although the numbers in the subgroups were small, we examined the POP (n = 8) and PON (n = 9) subgroups to check whether any item was decisive for identifying the differences between the SPs' assessments and ACIR assessments.
The clinical relevance of the results will be confirmed by calculating the effect size (Cohen d) of the significant differences found between the assessments.
Figure 2 shows the Bland and Altman plot with differences between the two assessments on the y-axis and the mean number of reported STARD items of the two assessments on the x-axis.
In the tables above, the asterisk superscript * denotes that there is a difference between the assessment result of the simulation and that of the proposed method: there is no CF according to the simulation result, while a CF is identified by the proposed method.
First of all, a great difference between the assessment of the disease severity and HRQOL has to be taken into account: in fact, the former is made through a pre-specified combination of clinical, laboratory and instrumental exams which might overlook some aspects of the disease influencing the health status, that is investigated, as known, by self-report questionnaires.
