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Validation of the Symptomatic Dermographism Quality of Life Questionnaire (SD-QoL)
Melba Muñoz1, Pascale Salameh2, Sabine Altrichter3
1Institute for Allergology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology ITMP, Immunology and Allergology, Berlin, Germany.
Background:
Symptomatic dermographism (SD) is the most common subtype of chronic inducible urticaria. It is characterized by the recurrent appearance of itch and subsequent strip-shaped wheals induced by applying shear forces on the skin, such as stroking or rubbing. The impossibility to avoid symptom's occurrence in most cases leads to a marked quality-of-life (QoL) impairment. As of yet, a validated and disease-specific instrument to adequately assess QoL in patients with SD is not available.
Objective:
To validate the first disease-specific patient-reported outcome measure to assess health-related QoL impairment in patients with SD, the Symptomatic Dermographism Quality-of-Life Questionnaire (SD-QoL).
Methods:
A 13-item QoL questionnaire had been previously generated and published. Now, the SD-QoL was analyzed regarding its domain structure and tested for its reliability and validity by evaluating its internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent and known-groups validity.
Results:
In total, 106 patients with SD participated in the SD-QoL validation study. The results suggest a 3-domain structure ("symptoms," "functioning," and "emotions"/"appearance") with an excellent internal consistency of the domains as well as the overall instrument. Furthermore, the analyses indicated high levels of convergent validity and known-groups validity as well as an excellent test-retest reliability.
Conclusions:
The SD-QoL is the first validated disease-specific QoL instrument for SD that allows assessing QoL of patients with SD in clinical trials as well as in routine patient care.
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