Development and validation of a tool for the assessment of benefit from treatment of allergic rhinitis in children and adolescents (PBI-AR-K)

Abstract

Background Allergic rhinitis (AR) is frequent in children and adolescents and can severely affect their lives. This article describes the development and validation of a questionnaire to assess treatment needs and benefits in children and adolescents, the PBI-AR-K, in a sample of patients receiving grass pollen sublingual immunotherapy. Patients and methods The PBI-AR-K was developed based on an open survey including children and adolescents and expert consensus between methodologists, patients, and physicians. The PBI-AR-K assesses patient needs before the treatment and perceived benefit during or at the end of a treatment. A weighted benefit score can be calculated ranging from 0 to 4 (4 = highest possible benefit). The validation was conducted in children (5–12 years) and adolescents (13–17 years) receiving sublingual immunotherapy. Subscales were developed based on factor analysis. Psychometric properties of items and scales were assessed with descriptive statistics, internal consistency, and convergent validity. Results The final PBI-AR-K consists of 19 items. For validation, data from 345 patients (mean age 11.1; 60.9% male; n = 223 children; n = 122 adolescents) was analysed. Factor analyses resulted in four subscales for children and three subscales for adolescents. The items with the highest importance ratings were about choice of leisure activities (mean value in children: 3.5) and about being free of AR symptoms (adolescents: 3.3). The weighted PBI-AR-K scores reflected considerable patient-reported benefit (2.08–2.82) in both children and adolescents. Internal consistency of all scales was good or acceptable. In the children’s sample, the global scale and three of four subscales were quite consistently correlated with convergent variables, while the subscale ‘treatment burden’ was significantly correlated only with change in average impairments due to rhinitis symptoms. The adolescents’ sample showed more inconsistent results with only change in rhinitis severity being significantly associate with all subscales. Conclusion The newly developed PBI-AR-K is a reliable and valid questionnaire for use in children; for the use in adolescents, it should be further elaborated.

Patients' values and preferences for health states in allergic rhinitis—An artificial intelligence supported systematic review

“…We were unable to locate the full text for seven records, even after contacting with the study authors. We reviewed 296 full texts for eligibility and included 38 reports 25‐62 . Two additional studies 63,64 were identified through a citation search, and one unpublished study was included 65…”

“…In particular, nasal congestion was identified as the most important attribute in five studies 48,52,54,56,63 (CoE = low). In one study, 51 all three attribute categories were analyzed, and attributes pertaining to care‐related patient experience (treatment relief) and functional status (daily activities) were ranked as the most important or second most important attributes (CoE = low).…”

“…Seven studies assessing children or their caregivers 48,51,52,54,56,58,63 were included in the relative importance analysis (Table 4, Table E17). Most of these studies only assessed symptom-related attributes.…”