Patient‐reported outcome measure for obstructive sleep apnea: Symptoms, Tiredness, Alertness, Mood and Psychosocial questionnaire: Preliminary results

Abstract

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common chronic condition that has a significant impact on the biopsychosocial aspects of the patient's life. There is currently no psychometrically validated patient‐reported outcome measure to assess the impact of this condition on the health‐related quality of life. We designed a novel instrument based on common patient statements, prioritized by patient preference. Sixty‐three patients with OSA and 33 participants with no symptoms of sleep‐disordered breathing were asked to complete a 20‐item initial questionnaire. The acceptability, reliability and validity of the instrument were assessed using known psychometric techniques. The instrument had strong acceptability and was completed within 180 s with no missing data. Five items were removed as they had a high ceiling factor. A further three items were removed as they did not represent the central construct uniquely. The final 12‐item instrument had high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.91), strong test–retest reliability (p = .83) and high discriminant validity when comparing mean total scores of controls (6.88; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.67–9.08) and those with OSA (31.39; 95% CI, 27.94–34.84) (p < .001). Further studies are planned to help validate this instrument for clinical use.

European Respiratory Society guideline on non-CPAP therapies for obstructive sleep apnoea

“…Although there is evidence that a high number of breathing disturbances (AHI >30 events•h -1 ) increases morbidity and mortality of OSA patients, this is less clear for patients with a lower number of breathing disturbances and data on improvement in survival under the well-accepted standard therapy of CPAP are lacking [12][13][14]. Thus, the importance of patient-related outcomes becomes increasingly important in the indication and selection of OSA therapies [15,16]. However, for the time being, the prognostic relevance of high AHI figures does not justify disregard of adequate suppression of breathing disturbances by practitioners.…”

Development and Validation of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROM) and Patient-Reported Experience Measures (PREM) in Home Respiratory Therapies: Oxygen Therapy, CPAP Treatment, Mechanical Ventilation, and Aerosol Therapy

“…When PROMs are operationalized as performance measures, they can be used to assess whether treatments by healthcare providers (and organizations) improve the health of patients. 18 , 19 In relation to HRT, there are currently different PROMs of quality of life related to the pathologies for which HRT is prescribed (for example, St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire 20 for COPD, ALSFRS-R for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, 21 Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire for patients with asthma, 22 STAMP for obstructive sleep apnea 23 ). Although they generally have good quality evidence, many of them contain more than 50 questions and are administered by interview, so it is not practical for clinical use.…”

“…At the time of starting this research, there were no PROMs and PREMs instruments for a standard gathering of patients perceived HRQOL and their experience with a given therapy or service. 6 This paper is a step in that direction, assessing the creation of specific items for measuring PROs for the assessment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), sleep apnoea, hypoventilation syndromes, pulmonary fibrosis, cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis or neuromuscular diseases identified and selected for HRT patients. Regarding PREs, identified PREMs that were subsequently validated by clinical professionals and patients as useful and effective for managing therapies.…”

Testing a Consumer Wearables Program to Promote the Use of Positive Airway Pressure Therapy in Patients With Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Protocol for a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

“…The impact of OSA on biopsychosocial aspects (e.g., mood/psychosocial outcomes) will be assessed using the STAMP (Symptoms, Tiredness, Alertness, Mood, and Psychosocial) questionnaire. [20] It is a 12-item questionnaire that is scored on a 6-point scale (internal consistency Cronbach α=.91).…”