Measuring quality of life in preschool children with sore throats and otitis media using the TAPQOL questionnaire.
OBJECTIVE
TNO-AZL Preschool Quality of Life Questionnaire (TAPQOL) is one of the few instruments designed to assess health-related quality of life in preschool children but its applicability to otolaryngology is unknown.


METHODS
We studied a consecutive series of children aged 1 to 5 years referred to hospital with recurrent sore throats, recurrent acute otitis media, or otitis media with effusion.


RESULTS
TAPQOL domain scores were not influenced by age, sex, or socio-economic class, but correlated with markers of disease severity (frequency of sore throat or pyrexia, time off school), ear-related handicap (assessed with the OM6 questionnaire), and other measures of health-related quality of life (visual analogue scale, 5-point rating scale and the Health Utilities Index mark III). Comparison with published data from healthy children suggests that these common otolaryngologic problems have a large impact on a child's quality of life.


CONCLUSIONS
TAPQOL seems to be appropriate for use in this context. Marked ceiling effects in some domains, however, may limit their sensitivity.
Kubba
Haytham
H
MRC Institute for Hearing Research (scottish section), Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, Scotland. haytham@ihr.gla.ac.uk
Swan
Iain R C
IR
Gatehouse
Stuart
S
D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000523:psychology*; D010034:Otitis Media with Effusion / Q000523:psychology*; D010612:Pharyngitis / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012008:Recurrence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012803:Sick Role; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile