Development and validation of the Korean version of the medication regimen complexity index

Abstract

The medication regimen complexity index (MRCI), originally developed in English, is a reliable and valid tool to assess the complexity of pharmacotherapy. This study aimed to validate the Korean version of MRCI (MRCI-K). A cross-cultural methodological study comprising 335 discharged patients of a tertiary hospital in Korea was conducted. The translation process included translation into Korean by two clinical pharmacists, back translation by two native speakers, and a pretest of the tool, culminating in the Korean version of MRCI-K. Reliability analysis was assessed using inter-rater and test-retest reliability with 25 randomly selected patients. Convergent and discriminant validity analyses were conducted by correlating MRCI scores with medication number, age, sex, adverse drug reaction (ADR) reports, and length of stay. The criterion validity was confirmed through evaluation by a nine-member expert panel that subjectively ranked these regimens. The reliability analysis demonstrated excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.977), and the intraclass correlation coefficient exceeded 0.90 for all cases. The correlation coefficient for the number of medications was 0.955 (P < 0.001). Weak significant correlations were observed with age and length of stay. The MRCI-K group with ADR reports scored higher (mean, 31.8) than the group without ADR reports (mean, 27.3). The expert panel's ranking had a stronger correlation with the MRCI ranking than the medication number ranking. MRCI-K has similar reliability and validity as MRCI and is useful for analyzing therapeutic regimens with potential applications in both practice and research in Korea.