Objectives: Rosacea has significant impact on patients' relationship to others, self-image and self-esteem, yet there does not exist a rosacea-specific instrument to quantify this impact. Our objective was to develop a validated and reliable rosacea quality of life (QOL) instrument. Methods: We conducted in-depth interviews with 8 rosacea patients to elicit all the specific ways that rosacea affects patients' lives, and then composed items to measure these effects. These items and a generic quality of life skin survey, Skindex -29, were administered to a cohort of patients with rosacea seen at Emory and Stanford University Dermatology clinics. Internal consistency reliability was measured with Cronbach's coefficient alpha, and reproducibility by comparing scores at baseline and 72 hours later with the intraclass correlation coefficient. Construct validity was assessed with principal axes factor analyses. Items to which more than 60% of subjects chose the same response were eliminated to yield the final instrument. Results: Based on the interviews, we hypothesized rosacea affects quality of life in three major ways: symptoms (sx), functioning (fcn), and emotions (em), and we composed 21 rosacea-specific items organized in 3 scales to address these constructs. Fifty-nine patients responded to the instrument. Reliability was high (for the 3 scales, Cronbach's coefficient alpha: 0.82-0.97, and intraclass correlation coefficient: 0.70-0.95). Construct validity was demonstrated by confirming that the factors derived by principal axes factor analyses correlated to our hypothesized scales (r ϭ 0.53-0.80). More than 60% of the subjects responded "Never" to 31 of the items (20 items of Skindex-29, and 11 rosacea-specific items). Thus the final instrument, RosaQol, consists of 19 items. Conclusions: These preliminary data suggest that RosaQoL is a reliable and valid QOL instrument for measuring the specific effects of rosacea on patients' quality of life. Future work will test RosaQoL on a new cohort for responsiveness to clinical change, so that the instrument can be used to evaluate outcomes of treatments for this common condition.Disclosure not available at press time.
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