Development and validation of the Arabic allergic rhinitis quality of life questionnaire

Objectives: To develop and validate an Arabic allergic rhinitis quality of life questionnaire (AAQQ). Methods: The study was conducted at the Ear, Nose, and Throat Clinic at the University of Jordan Hospital, Amman, Jordan, from February 2006 to June 2007. A questionnaire was developed from data obtained from 90 patients, and the validation study was conducted on 140 patients. The study was a 5-week observational study. We evaluated the measurement properties necessary for use of the AAQQ in clinical practice, clinical trials, and cross-sectional surveys. Results: The intraclass correlation coefficient for the repeated AAQQ measurements was excellent (0.93), indicating a very high reliability and repeatability of the instrument. Cross-sectional correlations and longitudinal construct validity between the AAQQ and the other measures of health status was close to the priori predictions, and similar to those obtained in the literature for similar scales. The responsiveness index for the AAQQ was high (1.04), and higher than that reported for similar instruments. Conclusion: The results from the validation study provide evidence that the AAQQ has strong discriminative and evaluative measurement properties, and can be used in patient monitoring, cross-sectional Surveys, and clinical trials. The AAQQ has the combined advantage of being short, and contains the most important items and domains.