Development and validation of a postoperative nausea and vomiting intensity scale.

Area of Science:

• Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine
• Patient Outcomes Research
• Clinical Measurement

Background:

• Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is a frequent complication impacting patient well-being.
• The specific characteristics of PONV that cause significant distress remain unclear.
• There is a need for a reliable tool to quantify the clinical importance of PONV.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify key characteristics of clinically important PONV.
• To develop and validate a measurement scale for PONV intensity.
• To assess the scale's reliability and responsiveness in patients experiencing PONV.

Main Methods:

• Participant enrollment (180) to define clinically important PONV characteristics.
• Development of the PONV Intensity Scale based on identified characteristics.
• Evaluation of the scale's validity, reliability, and responsiveness in 163 additional patients using psychometric techniques.

Main Results:

• Nausea severity, duration, and three or more vomiting episodes were key factors for clinically important PONV.
• The PONV Intensity Scale identified 18% of patients with clinically important PONV.
• Clinically important PONV correlated with poorer recovery (P<0.0005) and increased antiemetic use (P<0.0005).
• The scale demonstrated strong associations with PONV consequences (ORs 6.0-31, P<0.0005), excellent reproducibility (ICC 0.99), and responsiveness (ES 0.82).

Conclusions:

• The developed PONV Intensity Scale is a valid measure of clinically important PONV.
• The scale is reliable and responsive to changes in patient health status.
• This tool can aid in identifying and managing patients with significant PONV.