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Background The 28-item Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (RQLQ) has strong measurement properties but for large clinical trials, surveys and practice monitoring, where high efficiency is important, a shorter questionnaire is needed. Objective To develop and validate an abbreviated version of the RQLQ. Methods Using five RQLQ databases, items with high item–item correlations were combined and then the highest scoring items were selected for the MiniRQLQ (14 questions). There are five domains: activity limitations (standardized), practical problems and nose symptoms, eye symptoms and other symptoms. The MiniRQLQ, which is self-administered, was tested in a 5-week observational study in 100 adults with symptomatic rhinoconjunctivitis. Patients completed the MiniRQLQ, the RQLQ, and other measures of health status at baseline, 1 and 5 weeks. Results In patients whose rhinoconjunctivitis was stable between clinic visits, reliability (reproducibility and ability to discriminate between patients of different impairment) was very acceptable for the MiniRQLQ (ICC = 0.93) but not quite as good as for the RQLQ (ICC = 0.97). Responsiveness to change in clinical status was better with the MiniRQLQ than the RQLQ (P = 0.044). Construct validity (correlation with other indices of health status) was strong for both the MiniRQLQ and the RQLQ. Concordance between the two instruments was high (ICC = 0.87). Conclusions The MiniRQLQ has strong measurement properties and measures the same construct as the original RQLQ. The choice of questionnaire should depend on the task at hand. |
