{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,23]],"date-time":"2026-01-23T18:53:41Z","timestamp":1769194421473,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,3]],"date-time":"2021-09-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1630627200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001821","name":"Vienna Science and Technology Fund","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["COV20-028"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["COV20-028"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001821","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>While self-reported Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) symptom checklists have been extensively used during the pandemic, they have not been sufficiently validated from a psychometric perspective. We, therefore, used advanced psychometric modelling to explore the construct validity and internal consistency of an online self-reported COVID-19 symptom checklist and suggested adaptations where necessary. Fit to the Rasch model was examined in a sample of 1638 Austrian citizens who completed the checklist on up to 20 days during a lockdown. The items\u2019 fatigue\u2019, \u2018headache\u2019 and \u2018sneezing\u2019 had the highest likelihood to be affirmed. The longitudinal application of the symptom checklist increased the fit to the Rasch model. The item \u2018cough\u2019 showed a significant misfit to the fundamental measurement model and an additional dependency to \u2018dry cough\/no sputum production\u2019. Several personal factors, such as gender, age group, educational status, COVID-19 test status, comorbidities, immunosuppressive medication, pregnancy and pollen allergy led to systematic differences in the patterns of how symptoms were affirmed. Raw scores\u2019 adjustments ranged from \u00b10.01 to \u00b10.25 on the metric scales (0 to 10). Except for some basic adaptations that increases the scale\u2019s construct validity and internal consistency, the present analysis supports the combination of items. More accurate item wordings co-created with laypersons would lead to a common understanding of what is meant by a specific symptom. Adjustments for personal factors and comorbidities would allow for better clinical interpretations of self-reported symptom data.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v13091762","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,6]],"date-time":"2021-09-06T23:55:22Z","timestamp":1630972522000},"page":"1762","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Rasch Model of the COVID-19 Symptom Checklist\u2014A Psychometric Validation Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3073-7284","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tanja A.","family":"Stamm","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Section for Outcomes Research, Center for Medical Statistics, Informatics and Intelligent Systems, Medical University of Vienna, Spitalgasse 23, 1090 Vienna, Austria"},{"name":"Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Arthritis and Rehabilitation, 1090 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8763-8215","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Valentin","family":"Ritschl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section for Outcomes Research, Center for Medical Statistics, Informatics and Intelligent Systems, Medical University of Vienna, Spitalgasse 23, 1090 Vienna, Austria"},{"name":"Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Arthritis and Rehabilitation, 1090 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8834-2333","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maisa","family":"Omara","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section for Outcomes Research, Center for Medical Statistics, Informatics and Intelligent Systems, Medical University of Vienna, Spitalgasse 23, 1090 Vienna, Austria"},{"name":"Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Arthritis and Rehabilitation, 1090 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Margaret R.","family":"Andrews","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section for Outcomes Research, Center for Medical Statistics, Informatics and Intelligent Systems, Medical University of Vienna, Spitalgasse 23, 1090 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5277-1291","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nils","family":"Mevenkamp","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Social- & Health Innovation, MCI\u2014The Entrepreneurial School, Universit\u00e4tsstra\u00dfe 15, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Angelika","family":"Rzepka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Health & Bioresources, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Digital Health Information Systems, Reininghausstrasse 13\/1, 8020 Graz, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9208-7809","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michael","family":"Schirmer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Clinic II, Medical University of Innsbruck, Anichstrasse 35, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Siegfried","family":"Walch","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Social- & Health Innovation, MCI\u2014The Entrepreneurial School, Universit\u00e4tsstra\u00dfe 15, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Thomas","family":"Salzberger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Statistics and Mathematics, University of Economics and Business of Vienna, Welthandelsplatz 1, 1020 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Erika","family":"Mosor","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section for Outcomes Research, Center for Medical Statistics, Informatics and Intelligent Systems, Medical University of Vienna, Spitalgasse 23, 1090 Vienna, Austria"},{"name":"Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Arthritis and Rehabilitation, 1090 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"727","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMoa2001017","article-title":"A Novel Coronavirus from Patients with Pneumonia in China, 2019","volume":"382","author":"Zhu","year":"2020","journal-title":"N. 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