Various questionnaires are used to evaluate the disease-related quality of life. The questionnaire „Quality of Life – Bronchiectasis“ in  Version 3.1 (QOL-B) is the first one developed specifically for bronchiectasis. The German translation of the questionnaire was validated psychometrically in our study, since there was previously a lack of evidence for its wide use in the everyday clinical setting.

The foundation of our study was the baseline data of the adult patients in the German Bronchiectasis Register PROGNOSIS, from which a total of 904 patients could be included. At their baseline visit, the patients completed the questionnaire, which contains 37 items from a total of eight domains. These domains are airway symptoms, bodily functions, vitality, role function, health status, emotional function, social function and therapeutic load. We examined the results in connection with various markers for disease severity and symptom load: pulmonary exacerbations (episodes of deterioration), hospital admissions, dyspnoea (shortness of breath), lung function (one-second capacity in a spirometry test), daily amount of sputum, chronic infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, regular drug therapy, radiological severity and previous thoracosurgical operations.

This showed a very clear association or a moderate to strong correlation between most of the domains of the QOL-B (Quality of Life questionnaire – Bronchiectasis) and various markers for disease severity and symptom load (exception: social and emotional function). The results of the QOL-B were reliably reproducible within two weeks. The minimal clinically relevant change was determined to be 8.5 points for the airway symptoms domain. 

In short, we came to the conclusion that the German translation of the QOL-B in Version 3.1 represents a valid and reproducible measuring device for recording the quality of life of adult German bronchiectasis patients. The extent to which the questionnaire also records changes in the clinical status will form part of future registry evaluations, taking follow-up visits into account.

Publication: Psychometric Validation of the German Translation of the Quality of Life Questionnaire-Bronchiectasis (QOL-B) - Data from the German Bronchiectasis Registry PROGNOSIS

Text: L. Quellhorst & F. Ringshausen

Photo: BREATH