Intra‐ and inter‐rater reliability of digital image analysis for skin color measurement. Issue 4 (28th March 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sommers, Marilyn; Beacham, Barbara; Baker, Rachel; Fargo, Jamison
• Is Part Of: Skin research and technology. Volume 19:Issue 4(2013)
• Page Start: 484
• Page End: 491
• Publication Date: 2013-03-28
• Subjects: Skin -- Research -- Periodicals; Skin -- Diseases -- Periodicals; Skin -- Physiology -- Periodicals; 616.5
• DOI: 10.1111/srt.12072
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0909-752X

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="srt12066-abs-0001"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <sec id="srt12072-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Background</title> <p>We determined the intra‐ and inter‐rater reliability of data from digital image color analysis between an expert and novice analyst.</p> </sec> <sec id="srt12072-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>Following training, the expert and novice independently analyzed 210 randomly ordered images. Both analysts used Adobe<sup>®</sup> Photoshop lasso or color sampler tools based on the type of image file. After color correction with Pictocolor<sup>®</sup> in camera software, they recorded L*a*b* (L*=light/dark; a*=red/green; b*=yellow/blue) color values for all skin sites. We computed intra‐rater and inter‐rater agreement within anatomical region, color value (L*, a*, b*), and technique (lasso, color sampler) using a series of one‐way intra‐class correlation coefficients (ICCs).</p> </sec> <sec id="srt12072-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>Results of ICCs for intra‐rater agreement showed high levels of internal consistency reliability within each rater for the lasso technique (ICC ≥ 0.99) and somewhat lower, yet acceptable, level of agreement for the color sampler technique (ICC = 0.91 for expert, ICC = 0.81 for novice). Skin L*, skin b*, and labia L* values reached the highest level of agreement (ICC ≥ 0.92) and skin a*, labia b*, and vaginal wall b* were the lowest (ICC ≥ 0.64).</p> </sec> <sec id="srt12072-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusion</title> <p>Data from novice analysts can achieve high levels of agreement with data from expert analysts with training and the use of a detailed, standard protocol.</p> </sec> </abstract>