Validation of a Diagnostic Questionnaire of Allergic Rhinitis in Children and Adults for Epidemiological Studies

Abstract

Background: Allergic rhinitis is the most frequent allergic disease, characterized by nasal symptoms consisting of rhinorrhea, nasal block-age and sneezing triggered by and IgE mediated reaction to allergens.

Objective: To validate a questionnaire for the clinical diagnosis of allergic rhinitis.

Material and method: A test of a test in which a questionnaire for the clinical diagnosis of allergic rhinitis was developed and validated it in 300 subjects (150 children, 150 adults, of both genders, 2-70 years), in allergy specialized centers, between November 2012 and February 2014. Half of the subjects had allergist-diagnosed allergic rhinitis, the other half served as a control group. In patients below 12 years of age the questionnaire was applied to the parents. All questionnaires were applied in duplicate within a time-span of several weeks to validate the intra-subject consistency.

Results: The tests applied to the answers of the questionnaire demonstrated an acceptable concordance in the Test-Retest for both, adults and children. Likewise, we found a very high inter-rater reliability: the agreement between 2 physicians being almost perfect. The test used for validation of the criteria in the adult questionnaire obtained 91% sensitivity, 89% speci city, PPV 89% and NPV 92% and in the children’s questionnaire 92% sensitivity and 93% speci city, PPV 93% and NPV 92% and the criteria for content validity and expression were properly met. The homogeneity test reached 0.7 (Alpha Cronbach).

Conclusion: The questionnaire for allergic rhinitis in children and adults reached a highly acceptable inter-rater reliability, with high sensitivity and speci city in the validation of the criteria and an acceptable grade in the homogeneity test.

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