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Development of a Questionnaire for Detecting Changes in Dry Eye Disease-Related Symptoms
José Pinto-Fraga1, Margarita Calonge, Amalia Enríquez-de-Salamanca
1IOBA (Institute of Applied Ophthalmobiology) (J.P.-F., M.C., A.E.-d.-S., I.F., M.J.G.-G.), University of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain; CIBER-BBN (Biomedical Research Networking Center in Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine) (J.P.-F., M.C., A.E.-d.-S., I.F.), Spain; and Department of Ophthalmology and Ocular GvHD Competence Center (P.S.), Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
Objectives:
Determining the changes in symptomatology suffered by dry eye disease (DED) patients after an intervention is difficult because there is only one validated questionnaire specifically designed to measure these changes and it is somewhat complex. This work uses a simplified questionnaire to evaluate the changes in DED-related symptoms.
Methods:
A new questionnaire based on a global rating of change scale was designed. The Change in Dry Eye Symptoms Questionnaire (CDES-Q) consists of 2 questions: CDES-Q1 asks for the change in symptoms ("better," "same," or "worse") relative to a determined previous time and CDES-Q2 quantifies this change (range: 0 to +100). To evaluate the CDES-Q, a prospective observational study was performed. At baseline (V1; day-0), DED-related symptoms were evaluated using the ocular surface disease index (OSDI). In the post-treatment visit (V2; day-90), OSDI, Symptoms Assessment Questionnaire in Dry Eye (SANDE) II, and CDES-Q were used. Also, clinical evaluations were performed in each visit.
Results:
Thirty-six patients were included. At V2, OSDI, SANDE II, and CDES-Q showed a significant reduction in symptoms (-7.17±12.73, P=0.0021; -11.29±20.95, P=0.0035; -25.28±42.28, P=0.0011, respectively). Patients who answered "better" in CDES-Q1 showed a significantly lower SANDE II than those who answered "same" or "worse," while SANDE II did not discriminate between these groups.
Conclusions:
CDES-Q can be a useful tool for the evaluation of changes in DED-related symptoms. It is simple and better discriminates patients without changes from those who suffered a worsening than SANDE II.
