title: Development and validation of a new Spanish instrument to measure health-related quality of life in patients with allergic rhinitis: the ESPRINT questionnaire.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop and validate an instrument to measure health-related quality of life (HRQOL) specific to patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) and primarily for use in Spanish and Spanish-speaking populations.
  
  
  METHODS
  An initial item pool was generated from literature review, focus groups with AR patients, and consultations with clinical experts. Item reduction was performed using clinimetric and psychometric approaches after administration of the item pool to 400 AR patients. The resulting instrument's internal consistency, test-retest (2-4 weeks) reliability, known groups and convergent validity, and sensitivity to change were tested in a longitudinal, observational, multicenter study in 210 AR patients who also completed the Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (RQLQ).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The new questionnaire took a mean (SD) of 7.1 (5.4) minutes to answer. Floor and ceiling effects were less than 15% on all dimensions. Cronbach's alpha values and intraclass correlation coefficient values for six of the sevendimensions and the overall score exceeded 0.70. Statistically significant differences (P < 0.01) were observed on all ESPRINT-28 dimensions and the overall score between patients with mild (mean overall score 1.97, SD 0.99), moderate (mean overall score 2.78, SD 0.88), and severe AR (mean overall score 3.89, SD 0.87). Patients with persistent AR had worse scores (P < 0.05) on all dimensions than patients with intermittent AR. Correlations between the ESPRINT-28 and the RQLQ were generally as expected. Effect sizes for score changes between the two study visits ranged from 0.96 to 1.76 for individual dimensions and the overall score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This new, Spanish-developed instrument to measure HRQOL in AR patients has shown good reliability, validity, and sensitivity to change. It has also proved easy to use and administer.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Alergia, Servicio de Neumologia y Alergia Respiratoria, Hospital Clínic i Provincial, C. Villarroel, 170, 08036 Barcelona, Spain. valero@clinic.ub.es
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Valero
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alonso
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Antepara
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Baró
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Colas
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: del Cuvillo
authors.forename: Montse
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferrer
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Herdman
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Martí-Guadaño
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Monclús
authors.forename: Joaquim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mullol
authors.forename: Ana María
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Navarro-Pulido
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Navas
authors.forename: Joaquim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sastre
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baltasar
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bartra
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Serrano
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cardona
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Castillo
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Cerda
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cistero
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Conejero
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Davila
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Escudero
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hernandez
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vereda
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fernandez
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mencia
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Florido
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Quiralte
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Guardia
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Malek
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Montoro
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Orta
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oehling
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Pascual
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: de la Parte
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Raga
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rubira
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ranea
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rivas
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Serra
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tabar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012221:Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial; D006255:Rhinitis, Allergic, Seasonal; D013030:Spain; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires