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 1 week 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.