Validity and Responsiveness of the Generic Health-Related Quality of Life Instrument (VetMetrica™) in Cats With Osteoarthritis. Comparison of Vet and Owner Impressions of Quality of Life Impact

Abstract

Validity is not an inherent property of a measurement scale and so evidence for validity relating to its use for particular purposes, with defined populations and in specified contexts must be accumulated. We have published the development of a web-based, generic health-related quality of life instrument (VetMetrica™) to measure the affective impact of chronic disease in cats and provided evidence for its validity in a mixed population of cats, some of which, according to veterinary judgement, were healthy and others of which were suffering from chronic conditions likely to affect their quality of life, often with multiple co-morbidities present. The first aim of the current study was to demonstrate the construct validity of the VetMetrica™ generic instrument when used with cats suffering from osteoarthritis, by testing the hypothesis that the health-related quality of life profile of cats with different severities of osteoarthritis would differ and by demonstrating convergent validity between the health-related quality of life profile scores and independently quantified vet-assessed pain and quality of life impact scores. The latter involved simple correlation analysis and investigation of the relationship between health-related quality of life domain scores and vet-assessed scores, when adjusted for other potential explanatory variables including number of comorbidities and age. Responsiveness—the ability to detect clinically relevant change—is an essential quality for an evaluative instrument and it also provides evidence for “longitudinal validity”. Therefore, a second aim of this study was to demonstrate that changes in health-related quality of life domain scores concurred with the clinician's impression of change over time in the health status of cats with osteoarthritis, thus providing evidence for the instrument's responsiveness. Previously, we have reported disagreement between owner and vet impression as to health status in cats in general, but not in relation to any specific disease. Accordingly, the third study aim was to investigate the extent of agreement or disagreement between owner impression of the impact of osteoarthritis on their cats' quality of life and vet impression of such impact. Fifty one percentage of cat owners believed their cats to be perfectly healthy despite a clinician diagnosis of osteoarthritis

Concurrent Validation of MI-CAT(V), a Clinical Metrology Instrument for Veterinarians Assessing Osteoarthritis Pain in Cats, through Testing for Firocoxib Analgesic Efficacy in a Prospective, Randomized, Controlled, and Blinded Study

“…This stratification was validated at Baseline with the functional evaluations, when mild OA cats performed better at the Path and during NAM than moderate OA cats, and the latter cluster performed itself better than severe OA cats. Although the number of cats in the severe cluster ( n = 4) was low, this sample is relevant to the severity of OA cats previously reported [ 32 ]. Interestingly, the treatment effect varied with the MI-CAT(V) clusters, with the moderate and severe OA cats being highly responsive to firocoxib, and their effect on MI-CAT(V) remaining during Recovery.…”

“…Also, the quality of life of OA cats could be assessed with the VetMetrica TM HRQL tool. This scale is addressed to veterinarians and sensitive to clustering, and quite intuitively, the quality of life decreased as the severity of the disease increased [ 32 ]. Determined correlation with the MI-CAT(V) could be interesting to complete the affective-motivational and cognitive-evaluative components of the feline OA pain.…”

Owner‐reported outcome measures in veterinary care for companion animal orthopedic patients: An international online survey of veterinarians' expectations and practices

“…Disease‐specific OROMs included Liverpool Osteoarthritis in Dogs (LOAD), 10 Canine Brief Pain Inventory (CBPI), 11 Helsinki Chronic Pain Index (HCPI), 12 Canine Orthopedic Index (COI), 13 Finnish Canine Stifle Index (FCSI), 14 and Bologna Healing Stifle Injury Index (BHSII) 15 . Generic OROMs included VetMetrica Health‐Related Quality of Life Instrument (HRQL), 16 Glasgow University Veterinary School Questionnaire (GUVQuest), 17 Texas A&M Client Questionnaire, 18 and Short Form Composite Measure Pain Score (CMPS‐SF) 19…”

“…Disease-specific OROMs included Liverpool Osteoarthritis in Dogs (LOAD), 10 Canine Brief Pain Inventory (CBPI), 11 Helsinki Chronic Pain Index (HCPI), 12 Canine Orthopedic Index (COI), 13 Finnish Canine Stifle Index (FCSI), 14 and Bologna Healing Stifle Injury Index (BHSII). 15 Generic OROMs included VetMetrica Health-Related Quality of Life Instrument (HRQL), 16 Glasgow University Veterinary School Questionnaire (GUVQuest), 17 Texas A&M Client Questionnaire, 18 and Short Form Composite Measure Pain Score (CMPS-SF). 19 Participants provided their opinions on 10 statements regarding reasons for applying OROMs if they answered that they applied OROMs in routine clinical practice (including those applying OROMs both in routine clinical practice and for research purposes).…”

2022 AAFP/ISFM Cat Friendly Veterinary Interaction Guidelines: Approach and Handling Techniques

“…99,100 Several questionnaires have been validated for this purpose, and can be provided to caregivers in advance of the appointment. 101-106 Visual assessment of mobility is best conducted in the home, as many cats do not move normally in the practice. Do not coerce the cat to move during the physical examination; instead, the veterinary team should request caregiver videos of the cat walking, jumping, and climbing up and down stairs for the veterinarian to assess.…”