Visual analogical well-being scale for sleep apnea patients: validity and responsiveness : a test for clinical practice.
BACKGROUND
Health-related quality-of-life (HRQL) tests used in sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (SAHS) are time-consuming, complicating their application in clinical practice. The objective was to examine the validity and responsiveness of a simple visual analogical well-being scale (VAWS) for the clinical use.


METHODS
The subjects proceed from a cohort of SAHS patients treated with CPAP for 12 weeks. We correlated the VAWS with other HRQL tests, related clinical and polysomnographic measures to concurrent and construct validities. Responsiveness by: (1) comparison of HRQL tests between before and after treatment and effect size. (2) Association of the change with treatment between VAWS with other HRQL tests and between VAWS with clinical parameters.


RESULTS
At baseline, VAWS correlated with all HRQL tests but better with functional outcomes in sleep questionnaires (FOSQ) and European quality-of-life questionnaire (EuroQol) thermometer. VAWS and FOSQ correlated better with clinical variables than other HRQL tests. VAWS captures the magnitude change with treatment similarly to FOSQ but better than other HRQL tests.


CONCLUSIONS
VAWS is a very simple test which measures HRQL in SAHS. It could be a useful tool in clinical practice, primarily for the responsiveness of treatment.
San Pedro de Alcántara Hospital, Cáceres, Spain. fmasa@separ.es
Masa
Juan F
JF
Jiménez
Antonio
A
Durán
Joaquín
J
Carmona
Carmen
C
Monasterio
Carmen
C
Mayos
Mercedes
M
Terán
Joaquín
J
Barbé
Ferrán
F
Rubio
Manuela
M
Failde
Inmaculada
I
Mota
Manuel
M
Montserrat
José M
JM
D000328:Adult; D045422:Continuous Positive Airway Pressure / Q000523:psychology; D006970:Disorders of Excessive Somnolence / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017286:Polysomnography; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D013030:Spain; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires