Quality of life following acute deep vein thrombosis: the cultural adaptation, reliability and validity of the VEINES-QOL/Sym scale: a Turkish version study

Abstract

Background: This study aims to translate and make cultural adaptation of a widely used Venous Insufficiency Epidemiologic and Economic Study Quality-of-Life Questionnaire (VEINESQOL/ Sym) into Turkish according to international guidelines and to statistically evaluate its validity and reliability by administering it to Turkish-speaking patients with acute deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Methods: Translation and cultural adaptation of the questionnaire were performed. It was administered to 31 patients with acute DVT. The VEINES-QOL/Sym was performed 5-7 days after its initial application to evaluate its test-retest reliability. The internal consistency was assessed through Cronbach's alpha (including if item was deleted), test-retest reliability was assessed through the intraclass correlation coefficient. Validity was examined by correlation of VEINES-QOL/Sym with Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) and the distance of six-minute walk test (6MWT). Results: Cronbach's alfa values were 0.96 for the VEINES-QOL and 0.94 for the VEINES-Sym. No problematic items were observed for the scale. Intraclass correlation coefficient score for test-retest reliability were 0.984 and 0.996 for VEINES-QOL and VEINES-Sym scores, respectively. The VEINES-QOL/Sym scale was considered highly reliable. When the relation between VEINES-QOL/Sym and the distance of 6MWT was investigated, the relation of VEINES-QOL was moderate (r=0.372; p<0.05), and of VEINES-Sym was excellent (r=0.890; p<0.01). When the relation between VEINES-QOL/Sym and NHP was investigated, the r value was -0.359 (moderate; p<0.05) for VEINES-Sym and -0.393 (moderate; p<0.05) for VEINES-QOL. Conclusion: The Turkish VEINSES-QOL/Sym is a reliable, valid and easy to understand tool for the measurement of the quality of life and symptoms in Turkish-speaking patients with DVT.