The Development of the European Sleep Questionnaire A New Patient-Reported Outcome Measure

Area of Science:

• Sleep Medicine
• Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs)

Background:

• Current sleep questionnaires often focus on single symptoms or disorders, limiting comprehensive assessment.
• Many existing PROMs lack robust validation, hindering their clinical utility.
• The complexity of sleep conditions requires a more integrated approach to patient-reported outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop the European Sleep Questionnaire (ESQ) as a generic, transdiagnostic sleep PROM.
• To address limitations of existing PROMs by integrating clinical interview components for a holistic view.
• To streamline clinical assessment and better reflect real-world sleep disorder phenotypes.

Main Methods:

• Iterative development process informed by literature review, expert, and patient input.
• Prototype includes 119 items across nine sections using Likert scales for symptom assessment.
• Multilingual translation (17 languages) and digital implementation for multicenter studies.
• Initial validation involves cognitive interviews and psychometric evaluation in diverse sleep disorder patient groups.

Main Results:

• The ESQ prototype is designed for comprehensive symptom severity, frequency, and bothersomeness assessment.
• It includes a follow-up module and is digitally implemented for efficient data collection.
• Initial validation steps are underway, focusing on psychometric properties and item refinement.

Conclusions:

• The ESQ is being developed to provide a more comprehensive and validated tool for sleep medicine.
• It aims to support personalized diagnosis and treatment appraisal across the spectrum of sleep disorders.
• Future research will expand its application to more disorders and populations, enhancing its role in clinical practice and research.