Quality of life impairment due to allergic rhinoconjunctivitis - Comparison of the SF-36 and the rhinoconjunctivitis quality of life (Rcq-36) questionnaires in Thai patients

Abstract

Background: Two types of health-related quality of life (QOL) questionnaires were used to assess the QOL of healthy persons and patients with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (ARc) in Thailand, namely the Short Form-36 (SF-36), a generic type, and the Rcq-36, a disease-specific questionnaire. Here we have compared the SF-36 and the Rcq-36 in measuring the health-related QOL in ARc patients in order to evaluate their discriminative properties among various symptom severity subgroups. Methods/Data base: Healthy persons and ARc patients filled in the SF-36 (Thai version) and the Rcq-36 questionnaires. ARc patients also recorded their daily nasal symptoms in a diary card for 7 days. The symptom severity was classified into mild, moderate, and severe groups according to the average symptom scores, i.e., 0-4, 4.01-8, and 8.01-12, respectively. QOL scores from the SF-36 and the Rcq-36 were then compared between healthy persons and ARc patients and also across the three severity subgroups. Results: Using the SF-36, significant differences between healthy persons and patients were detected on all dimensions except the "Role-emotional." They were also significant on all dimensions using the Rcq-36. Both SF-36 and Rcq-36 were able to discriminate among groups of patients based on symptom severity. The average lost work /school days were 0.89, 1.57, and 3.68 per month in mild, moderate, and severe groups, respectively. Dimensions in Rcq-36 correlated better with symptom scores than the SF-36. Conclusion: The SF-36 correlation with the Rcq-36 was low to moderate and the Rcq-36 had higher correlations with the symptom scores than the SF-36. Both the SF-36 and Rcq-36 demonstrated the difference in quality of life scores between healthy persons and patients and within the different severity groups. In addition, the Rcq-36 also includes information on sleep and work productivity. Therefore, the Rcq-36 and the SF-36 may be used together for assessing the quality of life of patients with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis.