Adaptation culturally and linguistically to the Chilean population and validation the Dry Eye Questionnaire 5

There are different methods for evaluating dry eye disease (DID), including questionnaires that analyze different aspects of its symptoms, which are important for its better understanding and therapeutic management. The Dry Eye Questionnaire 5 (DEQ-5), is unique in its kind, because in addition to its simplicity, it measures symptoms in 4 dimensions. The aim of this study is to adapt culturally and linguistically and validate this instrument to the Chilean population.

For the adaptation, the translation and retro-translation of the original version was carried out, its linguistic analysis, the pilot test and the expert panel review (which included a linguistics specialist) were used. For the validation, a psychometric analysis of reliability and validity of the construct was incorporated. The sample in which it was validated was constituted by 205 people with dry eye disease.

141 (69%) of the respondents were women, the mean of age was 48 years ±16,7, and the median of the total score DEQ-5 was 13 points (R.I 8-15 points). The adapted version resulted in a Cronbach alpha of 0.8085, scoring that classified it as good.

The questionnaire DEQ-5, which was adapted and validated, was a good instrument to be used in populations with similar characteristics of those in the study. More so, the factor analysis enriched comprehension of the way in which people with dry eye disease relate their symptoms and which questions relate more between them, representing in a better way the aspects evaluated of the symptomatology of this disease.