A visual analog scale can assess the effect of surgical treatment in children with chronic otitis media with effusion
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Frank R Datema1, Johanna G Vemer-van den Hoek, Marjan H Wieringa
1Department of Otolaryngology, HagaZiekenhuis, Location Juliana Children's Hospital, The Hague, The Netherlands. f.datema@erasmusmc.nl
Insights
A Visual Analog Scale (VAS) effectively measures chronic otitis media treatment effects in children, correlating well with the OM-6 survey. This faster, more complete data collection method aids surgical outcome analysis.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Otolaryngology
- Health Outcomes Research
- Clinical Data Collection
Background:
- The OM-6 survey is a standard for measuring otitis media treatment effects in children.
- Routine OM-6 use in busy practices can lead to incomplete data.
- A simplified method is needed for continuous, complete treatment-outcome data collection.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate if a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) can quantify children's chronic otitis media suffering and its change post-surgery.
- To compare VAS speed and data completeness against the OM-6 survey.
- To validate VAS against the OM-6 as a gold standard for surgical treatment effect.
Main Methods:
- Prospective cohort study of 175 children with chronic otitis media.
- Collected OM-6 and VAS scores at baseline and follow-up.
- Measured time to complete surveys and return rates for both methods.
Main Results:
- VAS and OM-6 scores showed good positive correlation (rho=0.71 at baseline, up to 0.80 at follow-up).
- Changes in VAS and OM-6 scores correlated well post-intervention (rho=0.70-0.77).
- VAS was ~3x faster than OM-6, with complete data return versus >13% incomplete OM-6 surveys.
Conclusions:
- Visual Analog Scale (VAS) is a viable simplified method for analyzing surgical treatment effects in pediatric chronic otitis media.
- VAS offers improved speed and data completeness compared to the OM-6 survey.
- This supports routine use of VAS for continuous outcome monitoring.
Background:
The OM-6 survey is a validated and multinationally accepted instrument to measure the treatment effect of otitis media in children. Routine use of the OM-6 in a busy general practice is not always possible and can lead to incomplete returned surveys. A simplified method is favoured when the aim is a continuous process of complete treatment-outcome-data collection. This study tests if a VAS can quantify how much a child suffers from chronic otitis media and how much this changes due to surgical treatment. The change in overall OM-6 scores due to surgical treatment, functions as the gold reference standard. Furthermore, this study tests if the VAS is faster to use than the OM-6 and if it leads to an improvement in complete data collection.
Methods:
Prospective cohort follow-up study of 175 consecutive children with chronic otitis media in a paediatric otolaryngology practice in a metropolitan area. Data collected included patient's age, gender, clinical presentation, type of surgical procedure performed, overall OM-6 score and VAS score (at initial presentation and at follow-up), time needed to complete an OM-6 survey and VAS separately and number of incorrect OM-6 surveys and VAS questions returned.
Results:
The VAS scores and overall OM-6 scores show a good, positive correlation at baseline (Spearman's rho=0.71). This correlation improves at follow-up, one and 6 months after intervention (rho=0.73 and rho=0.80, respectively). The change in VAS scores and overall OM-6 scores, interpreted as change due to surgical intervention, show a good positive correlation at follow-up (rho=0.70 and rho=0.77, respectively). The VAS is almost three times faster than the OM-6 (28s versus 81s). More than 13% of OM-6 surveys were returned incomplete. All VAS questions were returned correct.
Conclusions:
The VAS can be used as a simplified method for routine surgical treatment effect analysis in children with chronic otitis media.
