Evaluation of quality of life in children and teenagers with allergic rhinitis: adaptation and validation of the Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (RQLQ).
BACKGROUND
in the last decades, the study on life quality has stimulated an increasing interest among health researchers. Instruments to evaluate the chronic disease impact on patients day-by-day, have been developed and published by researchers in many countries. The objective of this study was to adapt to the Portuguese Language (Brazilian culture), the RQLQ questionnaire (Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire), destined for life quality evaluation in teenagers with allergic rhinitis.


METHODS
in the beginning of the study, a list with 75 items, translated from the original article, was applied to 57 teenagers with perennial allergic rhinitis. The most frequent and troublesome items were selected to compose the modified questionnaire. The validation, reproducibility and responsiveness of the new instrument were evaluated through an interview with 52 patients before the beginning of the treatment, and of 2 and 4 weeks after the treatment. The obtained scores in these interviews were statistically analyzed to verify the questionnaire capacity to detect clinical improvement after the treatment.


RESULTS
a significant difference was observed between the total score and those regarding domains, obtained at the first evaluation, compared to later evaluations. A positive correlation was also observed during the treatment, between the questionnaire score and the patient grades related to nasal symptom severity.


CONCLUSIONS
the adapted questionnaire is reproducible, valid to be used in longitudinal studies and useful as an instrument of evaluation, but it should be submitted to other investigations to consolidate its properties.
Nascimento Silva
M
M
Division of Allergy, Department of Pediatrics, Federal University of So Paulo-Escola Paulista de Medicina (UNIFESP-EPM) So Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Naspitz
C
C
Solé
D
D
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000293:Adolescent; D018926:Anti-Allergic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001507:Beclomethasone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001938:Brazil; D002648:Child; D003233:Conjunctivitis, Allergic / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006969:Hypersensitivity, Immediate / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology; D007802:Language; D017336:Loratadine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012221:Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D018926:Anti-Allergic Agents; D017336:Loratadine; D001507:Beclomethasone