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A brief, valid instrument has been developed for assessing quality of life in Meniere disease, according to a study published online April 30 in The Laryngoscope.

Alexandra E. Quimby, M.D., M.P.H., from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and colleagues created a 24-item Meniere disease quality of life (MenQOL) instrument using a sequential process of expert input, patient focus groups, and analyses of responses to draft questionnaires.

The MenQOL and Short-Form-36 version 2 (SF-36v2) were administered to 50 patients with Meniere disease and 60 patients with tinnitus, vertigo, or hearing loss from other causes.

The researchers found that the MenQOL has a single domain based on exploratory factor analysis. For the instrument as a whole, a Cronbach’s ? score of 0.914 indicated high internal consistency. Relative to comparison patients, patients with Meniere disease had significantly worse quality of life based on mean MenQOL scores (52.5 ± 15.8 versus 43.2 ± 12.6), indicating good construct validity.

In bivariate linear regressions, significant inverse relationships were seen between total MenQOL scores and SF-36v2 physical and mental composite scores, indicating acceptable concurrent validity (slopes, ?0.94 and ?1.16, respectively).

“Subsequent to further study confirming validity and examining changes over time and in response to treatment, we hope that the instrument may become a widely adopted disease-specific QOL scale for use in Meniere disease,” the authors write.

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