VEINES-QOL/Sym questionnaire was a reliable and valid disease-specific quality of life measure for deep venous thrombosis

Abstract

Objective To assess the validity of VEINES-QOL/Sym, a patient-reported questionnaire to evaluate quality of life and symptoms in patients with deep venous thrombosis (DVT). Study Design and Setting Psychometric study within the Venous Thrombosis Outcomes (VETO) Study, a prospective cohort study of long-term outcomes after DVT. A total of 359 English- and French-speaking patients with acute, objectively diagnosed DVT were recruited at seven hospitals in Quebec, Canada. The VEINES-QOL/Sym questionnaire, a 26-item patient-reported measure that generates separate summary scores for symptoms (VEINES-Sym) and quality of life (VEINES-QOL) was evaluated for acceptability, reliability, validity, and responsiveness in VETO Study subjects. Results Standard psychometric tests confirmed the acceptability (missing data, item endorsement frequencies, floor and ceiling effects), reliability (internal consistency, item–total and inter-item correlations, test–retest), validity (content, construct, convergent, discriminant, known groups), and responsiveness to clinical change of the VEINES-QOL/Sym in patients with DVT. Conclusion The VEINES-QOL/Sym is a practical and scientifically sound patient-reported measure of outcomes that was developed using gold-standard methods. VEINES-QOL/Sym is valid and reliable for use as a measure of quality of life and symptoms in patients with acute DVT and provides a rigorous tool to allow more comprehensive evaluation of outcomes in clinical trials and epidemiological studies of patients with DVT.