Turkish version of the Drug Hypersensitivity Quality of Life Questionnaire: assessment of reliability and validity.

Abstract

The first disease-specific quality-of-life questionnaire in patients with drug hypersensitivity, Drug Hypersensitivity Quality of Life Questionnaire (DrHy-Q), was developed and validated recently. The aim of this study was to assess validity, reliability and responsiveness to interventions of the Turkish version of the DrHy-Q. The Turkish version of the DrHy-Q was administered to prospectively enrolled 736 patients with drug hypersensitivity from ten allergy units. To assess validity, all patients completed the validated Turkish version of Psychological General Well-Being Index (PGWBI). For test-retest reliability, 182 patients completed the DrHy-Q 1week after the first questionnaire administration without any intervention. Responsiveness was assessed on 97 patients who had a DrHy-Q recorded at a follow-up visit after the intervention. The internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the scale were adequate (Cronbach's alpha=0.934, intra-class correlation coefficient=0.783). The DrHy-Q scores showed weak negative correlations with the PGWBI total and domain scores (r=-0.378 to -0.254, p<0.001). DrHy-Q was able to discriminate the patients with one drug hypersensitivity reaction from the patients with two and above two reactions (p=0.012 and p<0.001, respectively), and the patients who experienced a respiratory reaction from the patients who did not (p=0.018). However, it did not discriminate the patients with comorbid disease including psychiatric comorbidity (p>0.05). The baseline DrHy-Q scores were significantly higher than the post-intervention scores (p=0.008). The Turkish version of DrHy-Q is reliable and valid for evaluating quality of life in patients with drug hypersensitivity, and it appeared responsive to interventions.