Validation of the MASK-rhinitis visual analogue scale on smartphone screens to assess allergic rhinitis control - UTU Research Portal

A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Validation of the MASK-rhinitis visual analogue scale on smartphone screens to assess allergic rhinitis control

Authors: Caimmi D, Baiz N, Tanno LK, Demoly P, Arnavielhe S, Murray R, Bedbrook A, Bergmann KC, De Vries G, Fokkens WJ, Fonseca J, Haahtela T, Keil T, Kuna P, Mullol J, Papadopoulos N, Passalacqua G, Samolinski B, Tomazic PV, Valiulis A, van Eerd M, Wickman M, Annesi-Maesano I, Bousquet J

Publisher: WILEY

Publication year: 2017

Journal: Clinical and Experimental Allergy

Journal name in source: CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL ALLERGY

Journal acronym: CLIN EXP ALLERGY

Volume: 47

Issue: 12

First page : 1526

Last page: 1533

Number of pages: 8

ISSN: 0954-7894

eISSN: 1365-2222

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/cea.13025

Abstract

Background: Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) is a validated tool to assess control in allergic rhinitis patients.Objective: The aim of this study was to validate the use of VAS in the MASK-rhinitis (MACVIA-ARIA Sentinel NetworK for allergic rhinitis) app (Allergy Diary) on smartphones screens to evaluate allergic rhinitis symptoms and disease control.Methods: Each user filled 4 different VAS measuring overall, nasal, ocular, and asthma symptoms at least once. Following COSMIN guidelines, we evaluated internal consistency, (Cronbach's alpha coefficient and test-retest), reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients), sensitivity, and acceptability of the MASK-Rhinitis VAS.Results: Between 1 August 2015 and 31 July 2016, the app was used 14 612 times in 15 countries. A total of 1225 users used it more than once, during the evaluated period. The tool resulted to be statistically satisfactory, showing excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's test > 0.84, test-retest > 0.7), reliability (> 0.9), and acceptability. In addition, the tool had a good sensitivity when users (n = 521) answered the VAS twice in less than 3 hours.Conclusions and Clinical Relevance: The MASK-rhinitis VAS is a reliable and valid tool to assess allergic control on smartphone screens, at the population level.