Inter-observer agreement for clinical examinations of foot lesions of sheep. (October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Phythian, C.J.; Cripps, P.J.; Grove-White, D.; Michalopoulou, E.; Duncan, J.S.
• Is Part Of: Veterinary journal. Volume 216(2016)
• Page Start: 189
• Page End: 195
• Publication Date: 2016-10
• Subjects: Foot lesions -- Sheep -- Clinical diagnosis -- Observer agreement; Veterinary medicine -- Periodicals; 636
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2016.08.005
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1090-0233

Abstract

Highlights: Diagnostic evaluation of clinical examinations of ovine foot lesions. Inter-observer agreement and percentage disagreement were assessed. Some scoring disagreement occurred over the diagnosis of white line lesions. Trained observers can reliably score most common foot lesions of sheep. Abstract: In sheep, the diagnosis of foot lesions is routinely based on physical examination of the hoof. Correct diagnosis is important for the effective treatment, prevention and control of both infectious and non-infectious causes of lameness. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the level of inter-observer agreement for clinical examination of ovine foot lesions. Eight observers of varying experience, training and occupation performed foot examinations on a total of 1158 sheep from 38 farms across North England and Wales. On each farm, a group of two to four observers independently examined a sample of 24 to 30 sheep to diagnose the presence or absence of specific foot lesions including white line lesions (WL), contagious ovine digital dermatitis (CODD), footrot (FR), inter-digital dermatitis (ID) and toe granuloma (TG). The inter-observer agreement of foot lesion assessments was examined using Fleiss kappa ( κ ), and Cohen's κ examined the paired agreement between the test standard observer (TSO) and each observer. Scoring differences with the TSO were examined as the percentage of scoring errors and assessed for evidence of systematic scoring bias. With the exception of WL (maximum error rate 33.3%), few scoring differences with the TSO occurred (maximum error rate 3.3%). This suggests that observers can achieve good levels of reliability when diagnosing most of the commonly observed foot conditions associated with lameness in sheep.