David
Co-Founder
- Location
- Naples, Florida
In this thread we've come to the conclusion that not many people know of the Crohn's Disease Activity Index (CDAI) and of those that do, many don't think very highly of it.
I thought it might be an interesting (fun?) activity to discuss how we would create an activity index. What symptoms and variables would we include? How would be weight them? The idea behind the index would be to determine how active/severe your disease is and be able to determine if it is getting better or worse.
If this is something the community really gets into, I could see us creating a software program out of it that could be quite empowering.
Let's do Crohn's Disease for now.
As we go along, I'll edit suggestions into this post. Let's just discuss variables for now to keep it simple. We can discuss durations/weighting later once we hash out the variables.
Current variables:
- Pain on a scale of 0-10 over the last [?] days. Answer x [?weight]
- Diarrhea or loose stool movements in the last 24 hours. Answer x [?weight]
- Constipation for [?] days. Answer x [?weight]
- Vitamin B12 level less than 250. 0 for no. 1 for yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Active fistula. 0 for no. 1 for yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Active abscess. 0 for no. 1 for yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Stricture(s) present. 0 for no. 1 for yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Active symptoms of arthritis. 0 for no. 1 for yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Active mouth ulcers. 0 for no. 1 for yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Active erythema nodosum. 0 for no. 1 for yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Active extra intestinal manifestations not listed. 0 for no. 1 for yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Jaundiced. 0 for no. 1 for yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Energy Level. 0 = normal energy levels. 1 = some fatigue. 2 = very fatigued. Answer x [?weight]
- Feeling nauseous over last [x] Duration. 0 = none. 1 = some nausea. 2 = very nauseous. Answer x [?weight]
- Vomiting in last 72 hours. 0 = none. 1 = 1-3 times. 2 = 4+ times. Answer x [?weight]
- Elevated WBC. 0 = no. 1 = yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Elevated CRP. 0 = no. 1 = yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Elevated ESR. 0 = no. 1 = yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Blood in stool 0 = no. 1 = yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Mucus in stool 0 = no. 1 = yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Undigested food in stool. 0 = no. 1 = yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Bloating - 0 = no. 1 = yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Urgency - 0 = no. 1 = yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Appetite over last 72 hours. 0 = normal. 1 = decreased. Answer x [?weight]
- Low Hemoglobin - [?]
- Weight loss/gain - [?]
- Acid refulx/heartburn - [?]
- SIBO - [?]
What else?
I thought it might be an interesting (fun?) activity to discuss how we would create an activity index. What symptoms and variables would we include? How would be weight them? The idea behind the index would be to determine how active/severe your disease is and be able to determine if it is getting better or worse.
If this is something the community really gets into, I could see us creating a software program out of it that could be quite empowering.
Let's do Crohn's Disease for now.
As we go along, I'll edit suggestions into this post. Let's just discuss variables for now to keep it simple. We can discuss durations/weighting later once we hash out the variables.
Current variables:
- Pain on a scale of 0-10 over the last [?] days. Answer x [?weight]
- Diarrhea or loose stool movements in the last 24 hours. Answer x [?weight]
- Constipation for [?] days. Answer x [?weight]
- Vitamin B12 level less than 250. 0 for no. 1 for yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Active fistula. 0 for no. 1 for yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Active abscess. 0 for no. 1 for yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Stricture(s) present. 0 for no. 1 for yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Active symptoms of arthritis. 0 for no. 1 for yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Active mouth ulcers. 0 for no. 1 for yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Active erythema nodosum. 0 for no. 1 for yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Active extra intestinal manifestations not listed. 0 for no. 1 for yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Jaundiced. 0 for no. 1 for yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Energy Level. 0 = normal energy levels. 1 = some fatigue. 2 = very fatigued. Answer x [?weight]
- Feeling nauseous over last [x] Duration. 0 = none. 1 = some nausea. 2 = very nauseous. Answer x [?weight]
- Vomiting in last 72 hours. 0 = none. 1 = 1-3 times. 2 = 4+ times. Answer x [?weight]
- Elevated WBC. 0 = no. 1 = yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Elevated CRP. 0 = no. 1 = yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Elevated ESR. 0 = no. 1 = yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Blood in stool 0 = no. 1 = yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Mucus in stool 0 = no. 1 = yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Undigested food in stool. 0 = no. 1 = yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Bloating - 0 = no. 1 = yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Urgency - 0 = no. 1 = yes. Answer x [?weight]
- Appetite over last 72 hours. 0 = normal. 1 = decreased. Answer x [?weight]
- Low Hemoglobin - [?]
- Weight loss/gain - [?]
- Acid refulx/heartburn - [?]
- SIBO - [?]
What else?