Slovenian Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of Health-Related Quality of Life Measures for Chronic Otitis Media (COMQ-12), Vertigo (DHI, NVI) and TINNITUS (THI)

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Purpose</jats:title><jats:p>To provide physicians and patients with the tools needed to evaluate patients’ problems and health-related quality of life by cross-culturally adapting and validating the Chronic Otitis Media Questionnaire 12 (COMQ-12), the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI), the Neuropsychological Vertigo Inventory (NVI) and the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI).</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Materials and methods</jats:title><jats:p>COMQ-12, DHI, NVI and THI were translated into the Slovenian language and completed by patients treated at our department for chronic otitis media, vertigo or tinnitus. The control group for each questionnaire consisted of healthy volunteers. Internal consistency, test-retest reliability, discriminant validity, diagnostic accuracy and cut-off value were determined for each questionnaire.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>Test-retest reliability was excellent for DHI (ICC A=0.946) and NVI (p=0.315, ICC A=0.975), good to excellent for COMQ-12 (p=0.680, ICC A=0.858) and satisfactory for THI (p=0.120). Discriminant validity was confirmed for each questionnaire (p&gt;0.05) using the Mann-Whitney U test (COMQ-12, DHI, THI) or the Welch t-test (NVI). COMQ-12 had acceptable (α=0.796) and DHI (α=0.910), NVI (α=0.950) and THI (α=0.924) perfect internal consistency. COMQ-12 and DHI had excellent, NVI acceptable and THI perfect diagnostic accuracy (AUC=0.987, AUC=0.999, AUC=0.781 and AUC=1.000 respectively). Cut-off values determined by Youden’s index were 7, 7, 9 and 56 for COMQ-12, THI, DHI and NVI, respectively.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>Slovenian COMQ-12, DHI, NVI and THI are a valid and accurate tool for the diagnosis and measurement of health-related quality of life in patients with chronic otitis media, vertigo and tinnitus. They could aid general practitioners, occupational health specialists, neurologists and otorhinolaryngologists.</jats:p></jats:sec>

A questionnaire for rating health-related quality of life

“…However, it is interesting that this domain encompassed also certain items that are traditionally linked to environmental aspect: adjustment to environmental temperature, air, and feeling of financial or safety in general. This is probably caused by specificity of western Balkan countries, which are extremely low-trust societies, where inhabitants either lack or have minimal trust in their governments and fellow citizens ( 19 , 20 ). In such cultural contexts people do not expect that their environment will be taken care of by institutions or other individuals, therefore HRQoL will depend on how they feel about their personal ability to cope with supposedly polluted air, inappropriate ambient temperature, crime, or financial instability.…”

“…coefficient is a measure of the strength and direction of association between two variables, based on the rank of individual values instead of actual values; it is non-When the WB-HRQoL scores were compared between healthy study subjects and those having at least one chronic disease, they were significantly higher in the former: 79 [16] vs. 73 [19] (Mann Whitney U test, p<0.001). This confirms the instrument's discriminative ability.…”

Autologous Platelet- and Extracellular Vesicle-Rich Plasma Is an Effective Treatment Modality for Chronic Postoperative Temporal Bone Cavity Inflammation: Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

“…At each of the four checkups, the CPTBCI focus surface area was measured for each CPTBCI case, and every patient completed the COMQ-12 ( Phillips et al, 2014 ). The latter was validated and cross-culturally adapted in the target language ( Vozel et al, 2020c ).…”

Impact of Hearing Disability and Ear Discharge on Quality-of-Life in Patients with Chronic Otitis Media: Data from the Multinational Collaborative COMQ-12 Study

“…It is a mixed generic and specific patient-reported instrument, with three broad symptom domains: hearing problems, daily activities, and acute disease activity (5). Since its development and initial validation in 2013, the COMQ-12 has been extensively translated and successfully applied to a diverse international patient population across different countries with distinct healthcare structures, socioeconomic factors, and cultural norms (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16).…”