Quality assessment of patient-reported outcome measures for patients
with multiple ear complaints
Abstract
Introduction: There is an increased demand for well-validated PROMs in
otology. This study will systematically assess the methodological
quality of all published patient-reported outcome measures (PROMS) for
patients with multiple ear complaints and to identify the best suitable
PROM for use by clinicians treating patients with multiple ear
complaints. Methods: An extensive systematic mapping review on all
otology questionnaires was performed to identify questionnaires
measuring multiple ear complaints. The ‘Consensus‐based standards for
the selection of health measurement Instruments’ (COSMIN) checklists
were used to evaluate the quality of the questionnaire by two
researchers. The worst item score per aspect of the methodological
assessment counted. Results: Twelve multiple complaint questionnaires
were included in the study for quality assessment. Ten questionnaires
were disease specific (COMQ-12, CES, ZCMEI-21, MD-POSI, PAN-QOL, ETDQ-7,
MDOQ, GYSSCDQ, COMOT-15 and DEU-MDDS). Two questionnaires were ear
domain specific (OQUA and COQOL). The majority of multiple complaint
questionnaires lacked good design with concept elicitation and patient
involvement. Conclusion: For the majority of questionnaires, the quality
assessment was inadequate as only a few authors consulted with patients
affected by the complaints in the development. Modifications of earlier
versions of PROMS or combinations of multiple questionnaires lead to
ongoing (cross-cultural) validation of these questionnaires albeit the
mediocre design and validation. The two domain specific questionnaires
are the COQOL and OQUA, both with adequate quality but different focus.
COOQL to quantify the quality of life and OQUA to measure and evaluate
severity and impact of ear complaints.