Validation of the Arabic version of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale

Abstract

Background: The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) is a questionnaire widely used in developed countries to measure daytime sleepiness and diagnose sleep disorders. Objective: This study aimed to develop an ESS questionnaire for the Arabic population (ArESS), to determine ArESS internal consistency, and to measure ArESS test-retest reproducibility. It also investigated whether the normal range of ESS scores of healthy people in different cultures are similar. Methods: The original ESS questionnaire was translated from English to Arabic and back-translated to English. In both the English and Arabic translations of the survey, ESS consists of eight different situations. The subject was asked to rate the chance of dozing in each situation on a scale of 0-3 with total scores ranging between 0 (normal sleep) and 24 (very sleepy). An Arabic translation of the ESS questionnaire was administered to 90 healthy subjects. Results: Item analysis revealed high internal consistency within ArESS questionnaire (Cronbach's alpha. =. 0.86 in the initial test, and 0.89 in the retest). The test-retest intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) shows that the test-retest reliability was substantially high: ICC. =. 0.86 (95% confidence interval: 0.789-0.909, p-value.