NailQoL: a quality‐of‐life instrument for onychomycosis

• Published in: International journal of dermatology 2007-12, Vol.46 (12), p.1279-1286
• Main Authors: Warshaw, Erin M., Foster, Jovonne K., Cham, Peter M. H., Grill, Joseph P., Chen, Suephy C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Biological and medical sciences; Chemical Sciences; Dermatology; Epidemiologic Studies; Female; Foot Dermatoses - diagnosis; Foot Dermatoses - psychology; Hand Dermatoses - diagnosis; Hand Dermatoses - psychology; Human mycoses; Humans; Infectious diseases; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Mycoses; Mycoses of the skin; Onychomycosis - diagnosis; Onychomycosis - psychology; Organic chemistry; Psychometrics; Quality of Life; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Reproducibility of Results; Sickness Impact Profile; Statistics, Nonparametric; Surveys and Questionnaires
• ISSN: 0011-9059; 1365-4632; 1365-4362
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-4632.2007.03362.x

Background  The disease burden onychomycosis is not trivial. The aim is to develop a quality of life instrument to measure the onychomycosis burden. Methods  402 patients with mycologically‐confirmed onychomycosis completed a baseline questionnaire of 39 quality of life items (modified Skindex‐29 questions and 10 additional nail‐specific questions). Internal consistency, reproducibility and responsiveness of the final instrument, NailQoL were measured. Results  15 items consisting of symptom (3), emotion (10), and functional (2) domains were retained in NailQoL. Symptom and emotion subscales = 0.80–0.92. Administration α demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach's of the instrument to 46 patients at one month after baseline revealed good reproducibility (ICC 0.88–0.91). Responsiveness was measured in 292 patients at 18 months; statistically significant better NailQoL scores were found in individuals with complete cure (mycological and clinical) (P