M Hama1, A Ushiki1, M Kosaka1, Y Yamazaki2, M Yasuo1, H Yamamoto1, M Hanaoka1. 1. First Department of Internal Medicine, Shinshu University School of Medicine, Matsumoto, Japan. 2. Department of Infectious Disease, Suzaka Hospital, Nagano, Japan.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with pulmonary non-tuberculous mycobacteria (pNTM) infection has not yet been quantified. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the reliability and validity of the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) and St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) in quantifying the HRQoL of patients with pNTM. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional study of 52 patients with pNTM. All the subjects completed the CAT, SGRQ and Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaires and underwent pulmonary function testing (PFT). A test-retest was performed and Cronbach α was calculated to assess reliability. Correlations of the CAT and SGRQ with SF-36 and PFT were performed to assess validity. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 67 years; 96% (50/52) were female. Both individual and total CAT and SGRQ scores showed good correlation between the test on Day 1 and the repeat test on Day 5. Cronbach's α (0.77-0.92) indicated satisfactory internal consistency. All scores were moderately or strongly correlated with the SF-36 Physical Component Summary score. CONCLUSION: The SGRQ and CAT questionnaires showed statistically significant validity in assessing HRQoL in patients with pNTM.
BACKGROUND: The health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with pulmonary non-tuberculous mycobacteria (pNTM) infection has not yet been quantified. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the reliability and validity of the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) and St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) in quantifying the HRQoL of patients with pNTM. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional study of 52 patients with pNTM. All the subjects completed the CAT, SGRQ and Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaires and underwent pulmonary function testing (PFT). A test-retest was performed and Cronbach α was calculated to assess reliability. Correlations of the CAT and SGRQ with SF-36 and PFT were performed to assess validity. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 67 years; 96% (50/52) were female. Both individual and total CAT and SGRQ scores showed good correlation between the test on Day 1 and the repeat test on Day 5. Cronbach's α (0.77-0.92) indicated satisfactory internal consistency. All scores were moderately or strongly correlated with the SF-36 Physical Component Summary score. CONCLUSION: The SGRQ and CAT questionnaires showed statistically significant validity in assessing HRQoL in patients with pNTM.