The VEINES-QOL/Sym questionnaire is a reliable and valid disease-specific quality of life measure for deep vein thrombosis in elderly patients

• Published in: Quality of life research 2014-11, Vol.23 (9), p.2463-2471
• Main Authors: Méan, M., Limacher, A., Kahn, S. R., Aujesky, D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acute Disease; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cohort analysis; Data collection; Discriminant analysis; Disease; Epidemiology; Factor analysis; Female; Health Status; Humans; Internal medicine; Language; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental health; Older adults; Older people; Pain; Patients; Preventive medicine; Prospective Studies; Psychometrics; Public Health; Quality of life; Quality of Life - psychology; Quality of Life Research; Quantitative psychology; Questionnaires; Reliability; Reproducibility of Results; Response rates; Sociology; Standard deviation; Statistical median; Surveys and Questionnaires - standards; Symptoms; Thromboembolism; Thrombosis; Translations; Veins & arteries; Venous thrombosis; Venous Thrombosis - psychology
• ISSN: 0962-9343; 1573-2649
• DOI: 10.1007/s11136-014-0704-x

Purpose To prospectively evaluate the psychometric properties of the Venous Insufficiency Epidemiological and Economic Study (VEINES-QOL/Sym) questionnaire, an instrument to measure disease-specific quality of life and symptoms in elderly patients with deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and to validate a German version of the questionnaire. Methods In a prospective multicenter cohort study of patients aged ≥65 years with acute venous thromboembolism, we used standard psychometric tests and criteria to evaluate the reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the VEINES-QOL/Sym in patients with acute symptomatic DVT. We also performed an exploratory factor analysis. Results Overall, 352 French- and German-speaking patients were enrolled (response rate of 87 %). Both language versions of the VEINES-QOL/Sym showed good acceptability (missing data, floor and ceiling effects), reliability (internal consistency, item-total and inter-item correlations), validity (convergent, discriminant, known-groups differences), and responsiveness to clinical change over time in elderly patients with DVT. The exploratory factor analysis of the VEINES-QOL/Sym suggested three underlying dimensions: limitations in daily activities, DVT-related symptoms, and psychological impact. Conclusions The VEINES-QOL/Sym questionnaire is a practical, reliable, valid, and responsive instrument to measure quality of life and symptoms in elderly patients with DVT and can be used with confidence in prospective studies to measure outcomes in such patients.